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CNN Live Today

Expert Discusses Rescue Chopper Crash

Aired May 31, 2002 - 12:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The unexpected drama of the helicopter crash was carried live around the country. And here is another look at how those amazing events unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT DOORIS, KGW REPORTER: You don't have a whole lot of wiggle room there if anything goes wrong. Look out. Look out, guys. There we are talking about things going wrong. Hang on, fellows. Oh, my goodness. Oh, that is horrible. Good Lord. Oh, fellows. Oh, my goodness. You're watching this live, folks. Oh, if only this was a movie.

JEFF LIVICK, TIMBERLINE SKI PATROL: I felt the rotor wash kind of dissipate, at which point I looked up. The cable was falling out of the helicopter. And the helicopter's rotors started hitting the walls. Things flew everywhere, started rolling down the hill, bodies flying out, basically, the most incredible thing I have ever witnessed in my life.

I watched one guy take two entire flips in the helicopter, hanging outside of it until his gunner's belt finally broke, at which point it just left him sitting in the snow. And each consecutive roll left one more person sitting in the snow.

So, this helicopter finally came to rest upside down, with five people just sitting in the snow kind of wondering what in the heck had just happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like a movie. You see these kind of action movies, that's what it kind of looked like. And it was amazing that none of the propellers or nothing hit any of us.

DOORIS: Oh, my goodness. Oh, that is horrible. Good Lord. Oh, fellows. Oh, my goodness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Wow, every time we see it -- and we have seen it over and over and over again. What it must have been like to be up on that mountain at that time fighting for survival. We have got a rescue expert we are going to bring in to the conversation here. He is in Chicago. Brian Wheeler, you are president and founder of the Northwest School of Survival. When you look at that videotape and you realize you've got two sets of people in trouble -- the climbers who originally fell into the crevasse and now the rescue workers, who are in the position of trying to rescue themselves -- what goes through your mind when you see those pictures?

BRIAN WHEELER, MOUNTAIN RESCUE EXPERT: Well, a lot goes through my mind, because I have been on those helicopters many times myself on very similar rescues and on Mount Hood. So, it is very eerie and scary, because that's your worst fear, is that that type of thing is going to happen when you are on a rescue, because we fly with doors open. And you are strapped in.

But, obviously, in this situation, that doesn't prevent you from getting badly hurt. And the only thing I can think of is, in watching the video again, whether it was by a total accident or on purpose, the pilot did an incredible job getting that helicopters away from the group that was just below him. And, in thinking through and watching where this actually occurred, had the helicopter been another 40, 50 yards either side to the right or to the left of where he was -- as you see the video -- that helicopter would have tumbled another several thousand feet down that mountain. So, it hit right in the spot that managed to keep these guys alive.

LIN: And, given the altitude at which this happened -- it actually happened at a far higher altitude than we originally thought yesterday, almost at 11,000-foot level.

WHEELER: Right.

LIN: How does that complicate an issue where you've got critically injured people now and help is probably a long way off, because they have got to get another helicopter up in the air?

WHEELER: Well, that's just it. A lot of people don't realize the south-side climb on Mount Hood is probably the easiest climb for Mount Hood. But there are inherent dangers, like yesterday, where you have climbing teams passing each other in a very narrow route that someone has to go off route just to let the other team pass.

It's like a staircase to the summit or a good path to the summit this time of year. But there is that crevasse that they were above. So, if anyone falls and they are above you, you could potentially have 150 to 200 feet of rope, with five climbers strung out on a line. And if they come down from above on top of you, you are getting tangled up in their rope. And that's exactly what happened, is, you had three teams get taken out because of a couple of people slipping and falling and not being able to self-arrest with ice axes in time.

LIN: So, Brian, do you think this could have been prevented?

WHEELER: Well, I'd love to say it could be prevented, but there are inherent dangers in the mountains. Certainly, if whoever slipped didn't slip, it could have been prevented. It's a dangerous mountain, given the right conditions. And, at 9:00 in the morning, you have the south exposure. You have the snow pack that is loosening up because of that solar influence. You have -- it is a very dangerous point, where you don't want to stop and take a break. And we don't know all the details yet of exactly how this transpired. But it's a very dangerous moment on the mountain, and you don't want to spend much time there.

LIN: Yes, and you know what? Frankly, it is amazing that more people didn't die, especially the rescuers.

WHEELER: Absolutely.

LIN: The helicopter rolled over, physically rolled over a couple of the rescuers, and they managed to survive.

WHEELER: Yes.

LIN: So, good for them. Knock on wood that the recovery operation goes well from here on out.

WHEELER: Absolutely.

LIN: Thank you very much, Brian Wheeler.

WHEELER: You're welcome.

LIN: All right, lots of lessons to learn in this.

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