Canyon Air Collision Was Below Rim, Officials Say

Aided by photographs taken by a tourist, federal investigators said Tuesday they have determined that the crash of a helicopter and a sightseeing plane over the Grand Canyon in June apparently occurred several hundred feet below the canyon’s north rim.

The altitude data was presented in the first technical reports released by the National Transportation Safety Board on the investigation of the accident, which killed 25 people. Some environmentalists and air safety experts have called for a ban on flights below the canyon’s lowest rim.

The documents placed the collision of the two aircraft at an altitude of 6,507 feet, with a margin of error of 106 feet. At that height, it would have been below some points on the canyon’s north rim, which has elevations around 7,400. It would have been at roughly the same altitude as many points along the south rim.

Investigators said that the impact point was calculated in part from three photographs taken by a tourist who was rafting on the Colorado River, which flows through the canyon. The collision appeared as a small cloud in the pictures.

No Survivors

The crash occurred the morning of June 18 as the Grand Canyon Airlines De Havilland Twin Otter and the Bell JetRanger helicopter swooped over the canyon on tourist sightseeing flights. All 20 people on board the plane and the five on the helicopter were killed.

Officials have not announced a probable cause for the collision but have noted that the airspace over the canyon is uncontrolled and that aircraft operate under visual flight rules.

Public NTSB hearings on the accident are scheduled to begin Sept. 17 at Grand Canyon, Ariz.

There are approximately 50,000 sightseeing flights annually over the Grand Canyon.