Feds attribute 2024 fatal helicopter crash in Anaconda to mechanical failure, low altitude

Mechanical failure and a low-altitude flight combined to limit the options of the 28-year-old pilot who died nearly two years ago when the engine seized in the helicopter he was flying and it crashed in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County.

That’s according to the final report from the National Transportation Safety Board of the April 26, 2024, flight piloted by Justin Paul Price. The report described a number of issues with the aircraft’s engine, including the apparent disintegration of O-rings in the turbine-to-compressor coupling shaft.

An O-ring is a circular mechanical gasket used to create a leak-free seal between components. The O-ring sits in a groove and gets compressed between two or more parts, creating a reliable seal.

The manufacturer of the Rolls-Royce engine in the 2005 Bell 206-L4 helicopter that crashed near Anaconda says a damaged O-ring or the wrong O-ring could cause oil to leak.

“The initiating event for the disintegration of the O-rings could not be determined,” NTSB reported.

At the time of the accident, Price was the father of three young boys, with a fourth on the way. An autopsy determined his cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries.

Price was performing contract remediation work for the Atlantic Richfield Co., addressing habitat damage caused by decades-past operations at the Anaconda Smelter.

He was hauling fertilizer for aerial application when the crash occurred around 7 a.m. A spreader was suspended beneath the helicopter using a 25-foot-long line attached to a load hook installed on the belly of the helicopter, the NTSB reported.

Wes Van Dell, the chief helicopter flight instructor for University of North Dakota Aerospace, said Monday that the aerial application work would typically require the pilot to fly at a low altitude.

And a low altitude could preclude autorotation, he said.

An autorotation is a controlled maneuver requiring precision and quick reactions that allows a helicopter with a failed engine to glide to a safe landing. During the autorotation, the helicopter’s blades continue to spin as air flows upward through them, providing enough thrust to maintain rotor revolutions even when the engine is not running.

“Given the helicopter’s altitude and speed at the time of the engine power loss, the pilot likely had insufficient altitude from which to establish an autorotation and perform a successful landing following the loss of power,” NTSB reported.

The NTSB report listed probable contributors to the crash: “A total loss of engine power due to a loss of cooling oil to the turbine-to-compressor coupling shaft and subsequent fracture of the shaft at an altitude too low for the pilot to complete a successful autorotation. Contributing to the accident was carbon buildup in the piccolo tube screen and nozzles and the disintegration of the spur adapter gearshaft O-rings for reasons that could not be determined.”

The Federal Aviation Administration has reported that “maintenance has often been a contributing factor to [engine and tail rotor] failure” in helicopters.

The NTSB report says the aircraft's engine was last overhauled in March 2019, about 1,141 flight hours before the accident.

The helicopter was owned by Heli Works Flight Services in Deer Lodge. A call to the company Monday was not returned by press time.

Price grew up in Avon on the family’s ranch and was active in 4-H. He graduated in 2014 from Powell County High School and then went straight to helicopter school in Utah, according to his obituary.

Price and Jessica Dunlop met when she was haying on a neighboring ranch, and they married in October 2018.

Price’s career took the couple to Oregon for his helicopter work, and then he flew for Hilcorp for a year in the Alaska oil fields before returning to Montana and Avon.