Agencies probe
heli accident

By Tom Morphet

Federal authorities this week were investigating the cause of a crash that hospitalized a helicopter pilot and seriously damaged his craft during a heli-ski charter Sunday evening.

State troopers said pilot Al Holzman made a hard landing while attempting to pick up heli-skiers near 35 Mile around 6 p.m. Sunday.

Holzman was treated for back pain and bruises and spent the night under observation at Bartlett Regional Hospital, according to Sgt. Matt Dobson of the Alaska State Troopers in Juneau.

“He was going to pick up people at a ski drop and he misjudged the approach and banged it in,” Dobson said. “He had a hard landing.”

Holzman was lifted off the crash site by another Coastal helicopter working in the area and was seen by local paramedics before being taken by helicopter to Juneau. “All we did was evaluate his condition and determine he was stable enough to make it to Juneau, and send him on,” said borough paramedic Al Badgley.

“Serious damage” to the A-Star AS 350 helicopter included to its fuselage, tail boom and blades, said Jim LaBelle, chief of the regional office of the National Transportation Safety Board in Anchorage.

Coastal officials told the NTSB they weren’t aware of any mechanical problems with the craft. The helicopter was to be taken to Anchorage for inspection, said an FAA spokesman in Seattle. The FAA will do its own investigation.

At press time Tuesday, neither NTSB’s LaBelle nor Trooper Dobson could say whether any skiers were put at risk by the crash. “I don’t know if there were people in the vicinity of the landing, or whether he was at the end of a runout,” Dobson said.

LaBelle said that he planned to speak with Holzman this week and also would seek statements from witnesses.

In a brief press release, Coastal called the accident an “incident” and said the pilot’s hospitalization was a precaution. Coastal was chartering at the time for Haines-based Alaska Heliskiing. Company president Sean Brownell did not return messages left by the newspaper.

The NTSB’s LaBelle said the agency typically doesn’t send inspectors to investigate non-fatal crashes. He said he would write a report on the accident and that his agency would determine an official accident cause.

 Coastal Helicopters Inc. has operated in Alaska since 1988.