Spraying Firm Has Record of Accidents : Medfly: San Joaquin Helicopters has a history of crashes and repeated violations of state pesticide regulations, records show.

The company hired by the state to spray malathion over Southland neighborhoods has a history of safety problems, including nine helicopter crashes since 1983 and repeated violations of state pesticide regulations, government records show.

At least six of the accidents involving helicopters owned by San Joaquin Helicopters Inc. occurred when the aircraft were flying at low altitude over farms in the San Joaquin Valley. In four of the crashes the pilots were injured, and in two cases the helicopters were demolished, according to National Transportation Safety Board records.

San Joaquin Helicopters, one of the region’s largest pesticide application companies, also has been cited 13 times since 1986 for violating state pesticide regulations in Kern and Fresno counties, according to the counties’ records. Among other things, the firm was cited for spraying crops with prohibited pesticides and for illegally discharging chemicals on a county road.

And, reports by Kern County officials show, the company has been involved in a number of pesticide injury cases for which it was not cited, including two occasions when chemicals sprayed from helicopters drifted onto workers in nearby fields--causing 13 people to become ill.

State officials said that the past safety problems of San Joaquin Helicopters do not indicate any similar hazards to residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties, where the company is spraying malathion to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Until Tuesday, however, the officials said they were unaware of the company’s history of crashes. They also acknowledged that they did not check San Joaquin Helicopter’s record of pesticide regulation violations before hiring the firm. But they defended the state’s choice, saying the company has a good overall safety record for its aerial pesticide applications.

“When you add all these up with all of the helicopters they’re flying in the state, I don’t think that’s much of a bad record,” said Rex Magee, associate director of the Department of Food and Agriculture. “Comparing them with others in the business would not indicate they have any worse problems than anyone else.”

As a further indication of the company’s good standing with state officials, the president of San Joaquin Helicopters, Jim Josephson, was appointed in 1989 to serve for a second term on the state Agricultural Pest Control Advisory Committee. Josephson was named by then-Food and Agriculture Director Jack Parnall to the panel, which advises the department on how to regulate the pesticide application industry.

Any safety problems in the San Joaquin Valley have little bearing on the operation to spray malathion over homes in Southern California, Magee said.

During farm operations, the helicopters fly at much lower altitudes and must constantly avoid such obstacles as trees and power lines. During spraying for the Medfly, the helicopters fly in a straight line at an altitude of about 500 feet. In addition, state workers handle all ground crew activities for the Medfly spraying, while in normal farmland operations, these duties are performed without state involvement.

None of the helicopters that were involved in the accidents are being used in the malathion spraying operation, according to a check of the aircraft registration numbers.

Josephson denied in a telephone interview that any of his company’s helicopters had ever crashed. “There’s been no incident involving helicopters,” Josephson said before refusing to discuss the matter further.

However, NTSB records show that helicopters flown by the Delano-based company have gone down in nine crashes ranging as far south as Arvin in Kern County and as far north as Chowchilla in Madera County.

Details of the six most recent accidents were available from records of the Federal Aviation Administration, and, in two cases, from eyewitness accounts:

* On Sept. 30, 1988, a helicopter applying paraquat to cotton west of the town of McFarland ran out of fuel on takeoff, landed in the field and rolled over. The pilot was not injured but the helicopter, a Hiller UH-12E, was substantially damaged.

* On March 14, 1988, a helicopter involved in frost control for almonds on the Tejon Ranch near Arvin ran into a transmission tower line and crashed, injuring the pilot and demolishing the Bell UH-1B aircraft.

* On March 8, 1987, a helicopter spraying pesticides in an almond orchard hit a tree and crashed southeast of McFarland. The pilot was not injured, but the Hiller OH-23G helicopter was substantially damaged.

* On Feb. 19, 1987, a Hiller STOUH-12 ran out of fuel near Coalinga and crashed, substantially damaging the helicopter. The pilot, who was not injured, reported that the fuel gauge was inoperative, the FAA report said.

* On June 17, 1986, a Hiller UH-12E crashed near Delano after parts of the main rotor blade separated in flight. The pilot was not injured but his craft was substantially damaged. An investigation found that the blades were not airworthy.

* On April 16, 1986, a Bell UH-1B lost power near Chowchilla and rolled over during an emergency landing. The pilot was injured and the helicopter was demolished. An investigation found there was no oil in the transmission.

In 1984, according to the NTSB, two Hiller UH-12 helicopters operated by the company crashed in separate accidents near Delano, in both cases injuring the pilots. And in 1983, a Hughes 369D helicopter crashed near Caliente. No one was injured in that crash.

Apart from its accident record, San Joaquin Helicopters has been cited by Kern and Fresno counties agriculture commissioners for violating a variety of regulations in its aerial and ground applications of pesticides.

Among the violations were aerial spraying of an almond orchard where a crew was working, illegally disposing of pesticide containers by burning, improperly labeling pesticide containers, and not providing proper training to workers.

On one occasion, a helicopter sprayed pesticide on bees in a field without notifying the beekeeper as required. And twice, the company sprayed crops with pesticides that were not permitted for use on those crops.

In most cases, the company received warning notices for the violations. In one instance, the company was fined $150 for not requiring employees to wear proper safety equipment.

Jim Wells, an official in the pest management division of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said the state did not review the company’s record before hiring the firm because it was not necessary.

He said the department has routinely reissued state pesticide applicator licenses to San Joaquin Helicopters and a host of other pesticide companies without checking their safety records.

But Wells defended the overall safety record of San Joaquin Helicopters, contending that all of the violations were relatively minor.

“Looking at the amount of work (Josephson) did, both ground and air, his record is not poor,” Wells said. “Anybody who does a lot of work is going to have violations.”

No citations were issued in the cases where pesticides drifted onto workers during helicopter spraying. In one case, seven workers in a nearby almond orchard suffered ill effects from the potent pesticide parathion. And in another case, six employees became ill after they were sprayed with a dose of malathion in a concentration much stronger than that used in the Southland Medfly spraying operation.