Copter engine may have malfunctioned

Lisa Snedeker

Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2001 | 10:40 a.m.

A preliminary examination of the helicopter engine involved in last month's deadly Grand Canyon air tour crash has revealed it might have malfunctioned, investigators said Tuesday.

Detailed examinations of the remains of the Las Vegas-based Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters' aircraft in Grand Prairie, Texas, might have provided clues to the cause of the crash, but no conclusions, National Transportation Safety Board investigators said. They cautioned an official determination of what caused the crash is at least nine months away.

The sole survivor of the Aug. 10 crash that killed five New York tourists and the pilot, remains in critical condition in a Las Vegas hospital.

NTSB investigators spent last week examining portions of the aircraft's engine and airframe systems that weren't destroyed by fire in the crash, Preston Hicks, NTSB Southwest regional aviation director, told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

The examination of the engine revealed metal splatter in the turbine, Hicks said.

"That indicates that something got hot enough in the engine to start melting," he said. "The obvious conclusion might be that the engine got hot enough to start disintegrating."

Despite the engine's abnormal appearance, Hicks cautioned that myriad pieces of information need to be studied before the NTSB can determine the official cause of the crash.

"It's necessary to look at all circumstances to determine how that might have occurred," he said.

Additionally, investigators found that the engine exhibited "torsional overload," which Hicks described as what happens to a piece of chalk when it comes apart when twisted. The rotation components inside the engine also exhibited scoring, or rubbing in the opposite direction.