LOGAN COUNTY, WV. (WOWK) — Family, friends and community members continue to grieve over the loss of the six victims in the Logan County Huey helicopter crash.
Now, they are looking to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for answers.
“The objectives of these investigations are to gather information and make recommendations so that type of accident never happens again,” said aviation expert Bob Stangarone.
Stangarone, who has worked in the aviation world for around 45 years, said NTSB investigations are very thorough, typically taking one to two years. However, he said the preliminary report only takes a few weeks.
“They are just basics of things, like when the aircraft departed, what the route of flight was, what the weather was at the time,” Stangarone said. “Very factual information where there’s no doubt it was factual, and they will put it out as a preliminary report, and then they’ll go back in further studies.”
Having worked closely within the accident investigation process, Stangarone said investigators analyze many factors including log books, weather information, manufacturing data and more. However, he said two of the most telling devices were not on the Huey.
“The flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder gives them the best clues because that’s very factual information,” Stangarone said. “That’s probably the best source of information for the investigation.”
The NTSB said the Huey was not required to be equipped with those items, which Stangarone said can make the investigation more challenging.
“The lack of those two black boxes makes the investigation much more difficult, and when an aircraft is consumed by fire, that’s another challenging element of the equation,” Stangarone said.