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This story has been updated: Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 10:04 a.m.
Latest News on the Crash
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Search presses on for copter pilot, hiker; one rescued
By Raam Wong
Journal Northern Bureau
SANTA FE — A piercing shriek from a helicopter rotor followed by a burst of light were the last signs of a State Police aircraft Tuesday night as it crashed into the snowy side of Santa Fe Baldy.
The fate of two of the three passengers, including a veteran police officer, remained unconfirmed early Wednesday evening as a major search and rescue mission continued from a staging area near the Santa Fe Ski area.
The helicopter went down just before 10 p.m. Tuesday after picking up a lost hiker on Baldy, the highest peak in the mountains surrounding Santa Fe.
State Police officer Wesley Cox, who was the spotter on the mission and walked away from the crash site in the morning, was rescued about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday after being hoisted up by a New Mexico National Guard Blackhawk helicopter. He was suffering from extreme hypothermia.
The twin-engine helicopter was piloted by Sgt. Andrew Tingwall, a 13-year-veteran of the force. The chopper had been dispatched to the mountains after Negumi Yamamoto, a University of New Mexico graduate student, had become separated from her boyfriend Tuesday night and called 911 with her cell phone. The two were camping on the mountain near Lake Katherine not far from Baldy's peak.
The last contact with the helicopter came just before 10 p.m. as the crew indicated it had found the lost hiker. Its emergency beacon signal is still emitting, state Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson said.
He said that when a dispatcher asked Tingwall whether the three aboard were all right, the pilot — apparently in the moments before the crash — responded: "Not really."
The helicopter may have crashed into the mountainside after the tail rotor hit something and subsequently failed to gain enough altitude to negotiate a safe landing, Olson said. The aircraft is believed to have crashed and rolled about 100 feet down the hillside, ejecting the three passengers.
Cox hunkered down inside the aircraft for the night, State Police Chief Faron Segotta said. He checked the vital signs of Yamamoto, but concluded she had perished in the crash, the chief said.
Through the night Cox called out to Tingwall, who answered, providing hope among search teams Wednesday that the pilot was still alive, Segotta said.
"They were calling out each others names — "Andy, Wes; Andy, Wes," Segotta said. "That's how they communicated." But Cox never saw Tingwall, Segotta said.
When daybreak came, Cox decided to hike out. He did not make contact with Tingwall in the morning. Cox walked for several miles before finding the searchers. He was transported to Christus-St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe.
Cox was listed in serious condition with a back injury, possibly a fracture, and a "seriously crushed" right leg.
Segotta said Tingwall had 1,300 hours of flight time as a pilot and is trained for such emergencies. "We're optimistic that he's sought shelter somewhere and he's waiting for us to get to him," the chief said.
Earlier in the day, Segotta said Cox told rescuers he didn't believe Tingwall and Yamamoto had survived.
Yamamoto's boyfriend, who has not been identified by authorities, was escorted out with a search and rescue crew; he had stayed overnight at the campsite.
Student from Japan
Yamamoto is a graduate student in physics and a teaching assistant at UNM, where her first name is spelled "Megumi" — the more common spelling than "Negumi" provided by police.
News that Yamamoto was on the helicopter hit those who knew her at UNM hard. "Oh my God," said physics and astronomy professor Ivan Deutsch, Yamamoto's academic adviser. "To be first lost and then crash. Oh, this is just absolutely hideous."
"I can't believe it," said Koji Masuda, a physics and astronomy graduate student, who, like Yamamoto, is from Japan.
Yamamoto transferred to UNM from Cal State-Long Beach. Deutsch said she had only been at UNM for one semester.
Masuda said Yamamoto was planning a trip to Peru and Bolivia this summer to camp and hike. "She was excited about it," he said.
Blustery conditions
The downed helicopter triggered a multi-agency search and rescue mission. Helicopters buzzed over the Santa Fe area Tuesday night but were hampered by unusually blustery conditions and lack of visibility.
"It was one of the most intense flights we've ever had," said Ralph Gonzales, a Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department tactical flight officer who assisted with the overflights. Due to a low cloud cover, Gonzales said the chopper was forced to remain below 10,000 feet.
The crew used night goggles and laser pointers to search for the wreckage. "We were just hoping and praying that we would find something," he said. Conditions were so fierce that the crew had to bunk down for the night at the National Guard armory in Santa Fe.
The rare June storm likely brought heavy snow and 50 mph winds to the mountain, according to David Craft, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. "They probably had a blinding blizzard when it was snowing."
Dozens of search and rescue volunteers from across northern New Mexico worked throughout the night, while fresh teams wearing waterproof gear and carrying mountain equipment were sent in Wednesday morning.
The search and rescue staging area, at an overlook down the road from the ski area, was cloaked in clouds and driving frozen rain Wednesday, interrupted by brief periods of sunshine that allowed rescue helicopters to continue the search for short periods.
Fuselage found
Segotta said during a news conference Wednesday that search teams had yet to locate the crash site, though they've heard two strong locator signals identifying the likely crash scene in rough terrain near 12,300 feet.
By 7 p.m., a search team had found the fuselage on a mountain side.
Gov. Bill Richardson, who arrived at the search base camp Wednesday morning, said he knew both officers and had often flown with Tingwall. "It's heavy on my heart because I know the officers involved," he said.
Tingwall's brother is also a member of the governor's security team.
Tingwall's wife is a supervisor at the state police dispatch center and was on duty Tuesday night when the call came in about the crash.
Three eyewitnesses camping nearby saw the accident. They told authorities they saw the chopper lift off, fly northward and circle around Baldy, before hearing the rotor rev at a high pitch, followed by a flash of light and then the sound of the crash.
The accident will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, according to spokesman Keith Holloway. Investigators typically arrive on the scene within five hours. They take measurements, identify aircraft parts and looking for structural failures in hopes of identifying the "probable cause" of a crash, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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