Agencies to Probe Fatal Helicopter Crash

The crash of a former Army AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter near Lancaster is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and the quasi-governmental agency that administers film location shooting in the Los Angeles area--the Entertainment Industry Development Corp./L.A. Film Office.

Also, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, which is automatically called in when there is a death on the job, launched an investigation. Some such cases have led to manslaughter convictions, a spokeswoman for the office said.

Basic flight safety measures were ignored when the helicopter crashed in the desert Tuesday while making a low-level run for a tool company commercial, killing the co-pilot, government officials and veteran fliers said.

The Film Office had previously suspended issuance of location filming permits to Propaganda Films, the company that hired the helicopter, while it investigates the company’s lack of proper permits.

Use of the helicopter--which was making a scene in which it chased a Jeep over rocky slopes at low altitude--should have been cleared with the FAA and approved on the Film Office permit, officials of those agencies said.

NTSB investigators said they also suspect co-pilot Michael Tamburro--who was killed--may not have been wearing a harness or fastened helmet when the chopper, a former Army AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter, crashed outside Lancaster.

It is an allegation some of Tamburro’s close associates found hard to believe.

Wearing a shoulder harness is so basic it’s considered “common sense” for helicopter pilots, said Kevin La Rosa, owner of Jetcopters in Van Nuys.

The FAA doesn’t specifically require that civilian pilots wear helmets and harnesses, but the Army--for which the Cobra was designed and which has the most experience with them--does. Cobra pilots are required to wear them “without exception,” said Bill Hayes, a public information officer with the U.S. Army’s Aviation Center in Fort Rucker, Ala.