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Friday, June 12, 2009
New Mexico Mountains Where Two Died Are Dangerous for Pilots
By Deborah Baker
Associated Press
SANTA FE — The northern New Mexico mountains where a helicopter pilot and a hiker died this week are challenging even in the best of weather, according to a state official who has had his own scary moments amid the rocky peaks.
Department of Public Safety Secretary John Denko, a veteran pilot, has been on a number of rescue missions in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that provide the beautiful backdrop for Santa Fe.
Unpredictable winds that whirl over the mountaintops make the area hazardous for pilots, Denko said Thursday, recalling one incident in particular.
"It almost flipped my helicopter totally upside down. And I looked up and I saw a bunch of rocks," he said. "You just act on instinct at that time. You don't have time to think."
State Police Sgt. Andy Tingwall and University of New Mexico graduate student Megumi Yamamoto died on a steep, rocky slope at an elevation of about 12,300 feet after the chopper Tingwall was using to rescue Yamamoto clipped a tree and crashed in stormy weather Tuesday night.
A second State Police officer, Wesley Cox, survived.
Denko, 68, said he knows how dangerous the area can be. The former Air Force pilot flew helicopters and airplanes for the State Police for 16 years, making at least a half-dozen rescues of hikers from the high country and alpine lakes near Santa Fe Baldy, the treeless, 12,622-foot peak that dominates the area.
On the day his helicopter almost flipped over, Denko managed to right it and fly it back to Santa Fe with a damaged rotor.
"That was on a clear day — daytime," he said.
But a storm cell was moving through the Santa Fe area and the nearby mountains between 9 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. on Tuesday, National Weather Service forecaster Brent Wachter said. That was about the time Tingwall's helicopter was picking up Yamamoto, who had become separated from her boyfriend while on a hike.
"This was a fast moving cell," Wachter said. "It most likely had some updrafts and downdrafts."
A large storm system moved through central and northern New Mexico hours later, producing rain — and snow at high elevations — mostly after midnight, he said. It resulted in unusually large amounts of precipitation for early June.
Search teams encountered from 5 inches to 12 inches of snow as they tried to find the helicopter, State Police said.
Putting aircraft into mountainous terrain makes for a riskier rescue mission, said Bob Baker, field coordinator with the all-volunteer New Mexico State Police Search and Rescue.
Winds that blow upslope and curl over the tops of mountains create some very strange aerodynamic conditions, even in clear, sunny weather, Baker said Thursday while directing the search for the downed chopper.
This week's search for the missing helicopter and its three occupants was conducted by ground crews dropped off by National Guard Blackhawk helicopters.
"Generally, we try not to put helicopters on the ground unless there's a life and death situation," he said. "Usually we'll have ground teams go in and evacuate people, because it can be very dangerous."
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