Report into Gold Mountain fire helicopter crash

On 12 July 2026, a Kaman K-MAX firefighting helicopter crashed at the Silver Jack Reservoir, Colorado, USA, killing the pilot. A preliminary report into the causes of the fatal accident has been released by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Within the report, the NTSB detail the reasons for the aircraft (operated by Helicopter Express) to be performing missions in the area, stating that it was conducting water bucket/fire suppression flight for the Gold Mountain fire in the Uncompahgre Wilderness of the north-central region of the San Juan Mountains.

The Kaman K-MAX is a helicopter with intermeshing rotors, which affords it certain benefits over traditional helicopter designs, and the K-MAX is widely used for long-line missions, such as firefighting, as its lifting power is significantly higher than other platforms running on the same engine.

According to flight data recovered from the crashed aircraft by a Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter 10 days afterwards, the helicopter was equipped with a 660gal Bambi MAX Bucket with PowerFill MAX (water bucket) suspended from the helicopter by a 150ft long line. It had completed five water drops over the fire before the incident.

Recordings recovered from the aircraft showed that the pilot was consistent in his water dips and returns from the scene of the fire, the report stated: “The pilot generally made large repetitive cyclic inputs while he maintained hover and were comparable to the large cyclic inputs that were observed during the final bucket dip that immediately preceded the accident.” The report also said: “The enroute portions following the previous five water bucket dips, each with an external load of about 3,000lbs, were unremarkable.”

A statement from one of the two witnesses present said that “after the helicopter refilled its water bucket it turned right (east) and descended into the reservoir upside down”, which is similar to the flight data that showed that “the helicopter pitched up rapidly, accelerated in right yaw, and rolled right into an extreme unusual attitude” before recovering slightly and then leading to the helicopter going into “an extreme right roll with the nose falling through the horizon toward the water”.

As this is still preliminary report, there are no conclusions and the findings are subject to change, but the missing servo flaps on all four rotor blades may point to a failure that has been found responsible in other recent fatal crashes of K-MAX helicopters, one which was also on a firefighting mission.

The NTSB recently released its preliminary report into the crash of an air ambulance in New Mexico.