Since
you asked
Mail Tribune
Medford, Oregon
December 04, 1997
Risks keep helicopter in the deep
About 18 months ago an experimental helicopter crashed and sank
to the bottom of Crater Lake. Has the helicopter ever been
retrieved? And if not, are there any plans to retrieve it and
the bodies?
-- Ed C., Medford
The helicopter you're referring to crashed Sept. 23, 1995,
killing the pilot, George W. Causey of Enumclaw, Wash., and his
passenger, Edward Tulleners Jr. of West Linn.
Crater Lake National Park Superintendent Al Hendricks says it
would be quite a production to find and remove debris from the
seven-passenger Aerospatiale AS-350. A study on whether the Park
Service should attempt to recover the debris suggested it would
take about 60 helicopter trips into the caldera to set up a
floating work platform to find and raise the debris.
Hendricks says much of the gear would be sling-loaded beneath
helicopters. Hauling the gear would pose its own risks because
pilots often jettison a slung load if they encounter problems.
All those factors led park managers to decide they would not try
to retrieve the debris until the next time they bring a
deep-diving vessel to the lake for research.
Hendricks says there has been no date set for the next research
project, so the wreckage could sit on the bottom of the lake for
a few years.
Hendricks says both victims' families decided the bottom of
Crater Lake was a good place for their loved ones to spend
eternity.
CORRECTION (say it ain't so!):
Dedicated "Since You Asked" readers might recall our Nov. 13
reply to Oscar Z., who wondered about regulations that apply to
golf carts on Medford streets. We pitched the question to
Medford police, who sent us a written response that golf carts
are allowed
on city streets within a half-mile of the Rogue Valley Country
Club and exempt in that area from normal vehicular requirements.
Oops. The police were wrong.
Medford Deputy Chief Ron Norris says state law requires golf
carts on roadways to be registered and licensed as motor
vehicles, to have the same safety equipment as motor vehicles
and to have on display a slow-moving vehicle emblem. Also,
drivers must possess liability insurance -- and carry proof of
it.
The only exceptions are a DMV-designated disabled person's golf
cart, or where a special local ordinance permits operation of a
cart on a roadway within a half-mile of a golf course. Medford
does not have such an ordinance.
(Send your questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune
Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; or by fax to (541)
776-4376; or by e-mail to: youasked@mailtribune.com
Please include your name, address and phone number for
verification only.)
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Crater Lake 'copter won't be
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January 26, 2000
