A Federal Aviation Administration notice issued days before a fatal helicopter crash in Arizona warned pilots that a slackline would be strung across a mountainous area, according to federal aviation records. The FAA notice, dated Dec. 26, described a temporary tightrope near Telegraph Canyon that would remain in place for several days and be flagged and lit, the records show. Authorities later said the helicopter struck the slackline before falling to the bottom of the canyon.
Officials confirmed the identities of those killed: David McCarty, 59, and his nieces, Rachel McCarty, Faith McCarty and Katelyn Heideman. The crash occurred about 64 miles east of Phoenix, after the helicopter took off from an airport in Queen Creek, according to authorities. Investigators said crews had to hike to the remote site and worked for hours before reaching the area where the helicopter crashed.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it will comb through the wreckage over the coming weeks as it tries to determine what led up to the Jan. 2 crash, and whether any mechanical issues or other problems contributed to the incident. It could take months for a final report to be issued, investigators said.
Safety experts said the case has drawn attention in the aviation community because slacklines are not commonly involved in helicopter crashes. Tom Anthony, director of the Aviation Safety and Security Program at the University of Southern California, said pilots face a steady challenge from obstacles such as power lines and unmarked cables, which can be difficult to see from the cockpit without markers or lighting infrastructure like power poles.
Anthony said pilots should review Notices to Airmen while planning their flights. He said FAA guidance expects pilots to check NOTAMs not only at the departure and arrival points, but along the entire route, and within 25 nautical miles of their flight path. He acknowledged that can mean reviewing many notices.
“It can be a drudge, a chore, but you’ve got to do it,” Anthony said.
Hassan Shahidi, president and chief executive of the Flight Safety Foundation in Virginia, said aviation safety depends on situational awareness and understanding the airspace. Shahidi said the crash showed how incidents like the one in Arizona can often be preventable, and he called the outcome unacceptable.
“Unfortunately, we’re seeing too many of these incidents where, you know, it’s really preventable,” Shahidi said. “It should not happen.”
The notice authorities described as relevant to the crash said the slackline was more than half a mile long, and that it would be flagged and lit while it was in place. Authorities also said the line was positioned across the mountainous area near Telegraph Canyon, where they said a witness reported seeing the helicopter strike part of the line before falling.
McCarty, the pilot who died, founded Columbia Basin Helicopters in the 1990s and grew the company into one that received millions of dollars in federal contracts for firefighting support, agricultural spraying, seeding and other work across nine Western states. The company has offices in Oregon and Arizona.
Philip Hofbauer, a longtime friend of the McCarty family in Ukiah, Oregon, told The Associated Press he grew up knowing David McCarty and later worked on the family’s farm near Echo, eastern Oregon. Hofbauer said he planned to see McCarty when he contracted heavy equipment for fire-fighting work and that McCarty did the same by providing helicopters for officials during that time. Hofbauer described the loss as overwhelming, saying, “a very tragic situation.”