On January 17, 2018, a Bell UH-1H Iroquois helicopter of Sapphire Aviation crashed near

Raton, New Mexico Raton ( ) is a city and the county seat of Colfax County in northeastern New Mexico. The city is located just south of Raton Pass. The city is also located about 6.5 miles south of the New Mexico–Colorado border and 85 miles west of Texas. His ...

, United States. Five of the six people on board were killed. The sole survivor was in serious condition.

Accident

The helicopter crashed and caught fire east of

. The pilot, pilot rated passenger, and three of the four passengers on board were killed, including

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

an politician Roy Bennett and British world record holder Charles Burnett III. Burnett had set the record for a steam-powered car in 2009. The sole survivor, Andra Cobb, was the daughter of the pilot rated passenger Paul Cobb, and the long term romantic partner of Charles Burnett. Cobb was seriously injured but was able to raise the alarm by cellphone; although she was unable to give the location of the crash, it was located by

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on a ranch east of Raton. The aircraft was flying from Raton Municipal Airport to a site in Folsom, New Mexico. It crashed at about 18:00 local time. The '' Albuquerque Journal'' reported that the pilot had said that there had been mechanical problems with the helicopter the day before the accident. It was stated that these had been fixed before the fatal flight.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Bell UH-1H Iroquois,

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N658H,

msn MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

9856. The aircraft served with the United States Army (as serial number "67-17658") and saw action during the Vietnam War, it crashed on 31 May 1969 at Firebase Eagles Nest. It was returned to the United States and repaired and used by the

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before being retired to the Firelands Military Museum in Ohio.

Investigation

The US National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation into the accident. The report cited pilot error, determining pilot Coleman Dodd was flying too low. Investigators said a low therapeutic amount of an

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was found in his blood but could not say with certainty it contributed to his inability to avoid crashing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sapphire Aviation Bell UH-1H Iroquois crash, 2018 2018 in New Mexico Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2018 Aviation accidents and incidents in New Mexico January 2018 events in the United States Accidents and incidents involving helicopters Raton, New Mexico