2009 Medair TC-HEK helicopter crash
Encyclopedia
The 2009 Medair TC-HEK helicopter crash occurred on March 25, 2009 at around 16:00 EET
(14:00 UTC
) when a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger, tail number TC-HEK, operated by Medair while on a charter flight en route from Çağlayancerit
in Kahramanmaraş Province
to Yerköy
in Yozgat Province
struck Mount Keş in central Turkey
. The pilot and four passengers, including the leader of the Great Union Party
(BBP) Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu
, were killed in the accident. Only one passenger survived the crash with injuries and made an emergency call. Due to harsh weather conditions at the crash site, the victims and the wreckage could be recovered only after two days, and the injured passenger was found dead five days later under snow.
. Accompanied by his party's three local leaders from Sivas Province
and a news agency reporter, Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu arrived on March 25, 2009 at 13:00 EET (11:00 UCT) by helicopter in Çağlayancerit to hold a speech. He told the 1,500 people strong crowd, gathered at the town's square, that it was the first time his party chartered a helicopter and this without any financial support from the state treasury.
As the rally in Çağlayancerit was going on, the helicopter got refueled at 13:30 local time at the Kahramanmaraş Airport
. Piloted by Kaya İstektepe and carrying five passengers, the TC-HEK lifted off at 14:42 to head for Yerköy, where Yazıcıoğle would have his next public speaking scheduled at 17:00 hours. As the helicopter did not show on time, the crowd of 3,000 people gathered at the Station Square in Yerköy became worried. A short time later, deputy leader of the BBP announced the sad message that the helicopter carrying Yazıcıoğlu and his party members was missing.
The helicopter, a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger with tail number TC-HEK was produced in 1999. It joined in 2008 the fleet of Medair, a subsidiary company of Esas Holding based in Istanbul
. The aircraft had seven-seat capacity for five passengers in addition to two pilots. Powered by one Allison 250
-C30P engine, it could remain airborne for two and half hours, reach a maximum range of 508 km (274.3 nmi) with a maximum speed of 234 km/h (145.4 mph).
from Sivas, called at 16:10 local time the emergency service 112
by his mobile phone
and told that "the helicopter he was onboard had crashed, he was injured with a broken leg and no one else, as he could see, had survived". After he added that "the battery of his mobile was running out, and he was about to die", his phone got silence. He was unable to give any further information about the location of the crash site.
In order to locate the crash site, the GSM operator subscribing Güneş's mobile phone was contacted. The calculated geographical coordinate
s determined the crash site as Mount Berit in the vicinity of Hacıömer and Sisne villages around 20 km (12.4 mi) northeast of Göksun
town in Kahramanmaraş Province. At 17:00 hours, search and rescue
(SAR) teams were deployed on land and by air at the area. Minister of Transport
Binali Yıldırım
told that "the rescuers were receiving signals from the mobile phones in the accident area, and they are trying to locate whereabouts of the crash".
Officials of the state emergency management reported that two military special operations teams of the natural disaster rescue battalion (12 personnel each), civil defense SAR teams from Kahramanmaraş (129 personnel, 17 vehicles) and Adana
(27 personnel, 8 vehicles and a SAR dog
), a gendarmerie
unit consisting of 345 personnel, 897 village guards and 60 volunteers of a disaster assistance and rescue team
headed for the crash site on land, while two military Sikorsky helicopter
s equipped with night vision device, one CASA aircraft of the Turkish Air Force
, one police
H-60
and one air ambulance
helicopter joined the search efforts in air.
Teams of the Gendarmerie and the Turkish Road Administration were engaged in opening of roadways in the mountainous area under harsh weather conditions, where the temperature fell down to -5 °C after midnight. The search operation in the region with elevation of around 2000 m (6,561.7 ft) was hampered by fog, snowstorm and deep snow of 2 m (6.6 ft).
The search efforts, concentrated around Kurucaova village and foothills of Mount Kaman during the night, were suspended at 04:00 local time, but resumed at 05:30 hours with the sunrise. At around 06:00 hours, the search teams found a group of 22 volunteers in danger of freezing and rescued them.
Minister of Interior Beşir Atalay
rushed to the region and headquartered in the nearby Kızılöz village to coordinate the SAR activities. Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
also travelled to Kahramanmaraş to oversee the operation.
The villagers called the authorities by phone from the crash site and told, "they found five victims dead, two of them inside the helicopter's wreckage. They were unable to identify Yazıcıoğlu since the corpses were frozen beyond recognition. The aircraft's fuselage was shattered into pieces while the tail was almost intact. They searched for the sixth victim around the wreckage without success." They added "the crash site was located in an inaccessible area and could better be reached by means of helicopter."
Officials redirected the rescuers to the area, where the wreckage was found. The next day, now three days after the crash, rescue teams reached the bodies of the five victims, pilot Kaya İstektepe, BBP leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, BBP chairman of Sivas Province Erhan Üstündağ, his deputy Yüksel Yağcı, Sivas city council candidate Murat Çetinkaya, and transported them by helicopters to the State Hospital in Kahramanmaraş. Search for the sixth passenger in the helicopter continued, however with little hope to find him alive.
During the SAR operation, a military helicopter of type Sikorsky made an emergency landing in the region due to bad weather conditions and stuck into snow. There were no casualties at the accident.
Special operations SAR teams of the Gendarmerie found finally the body of the 34-year old reporter İsmail Güneş on March 30, five days after the accident, covered by snow between two rocks around 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) east of the crash site. He eventually freed himself from the wreckage, where his foot was wedged, and sled downhill with the help of a seat from the aircraft to seek shelter under a tree beside a rock at Karayakup hill.
Güneş's corpse was flown to the State Hospital in Kahramanmaraş, where four forensic experts from Adana conducted autopsy
, and found that he had a broken left ankle joint and two ribs, and the reason of his death was perish from cold.
, told that the helicopter was regularly maintained and the ELT device was installed one week before the accident.
The investigation team revealed its first findings as the helicopter, while cruising at an altitude of about 1,000-1,500 ft (300–460 m), hit the mountain due to bad weather conditions and fog. The aircraft's body broke into pieces, and some of the parts spread over an area up to 50 metres (164 ft) far from the impact point.
After the local elections of March 29, the BBP unexpectedly won the seat of the mayor in Sivas Province
, the province Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu was the deputy for in the parliament as his party's only member.
In a press conference, Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his appreciation to the rescue teams for their efforts despite advert weather conditions at the crash site, and announced initiation of an official investigation on a possible failure of the authorities regarding the SAR operation, which took days.
Eastern European Time
Eastern European Time is one of the names of UTC+02:00 time zone, 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in some European countries that also use Eastern European Summer Time as a summer daylight saving time.- Usage :...
(14:00 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
) when a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger, tail number TC-HEK, operated by Medair while on a charter flight en route from Çağlayancerit
Çaglayancerit
Çağlayancerit is a town and district of Kahramanmaraş Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey.- 2009 helicopter crash :On March 25, 2009, Great Union Party's leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu came to Çağlayancerit at 13:00 EET by a chartered helicopter to hold a speech at his party's rally ahead of...
in Kahramanmaraş Province
Kahramanmaras Province
Kahramanmaraş is a province of Turkey. Its provincial capital is Kahramanmaraş city, the traffic code is 46.-Districts:Kahramanmaraş province is divided into 10 districts :*Afşin*Andırın*Çağlayancerit*Ekinözü*Elbistan*Göksun*Kahramanmaraş...
to Yerköy
Yerköy
Yerköy is a town and district of Yozgat Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. According to 2000 census, population of the district is 48,889 of which 32,228 live in the town of Yerköy.- 2009 Great Union Party's rally :...
in Yozgat Province
Yozgat Province
Yozgat Province is a province in central Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Çorum to the northwest, Kırıkkale to the west, Kırşehir to the southwest, Nevşehir to the south, Kayseri to the southeast, Sivas to the east, Tokat to the northeast, and Amasya to the north...
struck Mount Keş in central Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The pilot and four passengers, including the leader of the Great Union Party
Great Union Party
The Great Union Party is a nationalist political party in Turkey, created on January 29, 1993. It is considered to be close to the Grey Wolves organization, and is related to the "Alperen Ocakları" tendency, which operated a synthesis between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism, and separated itself...
(BBP) Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu
Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu
Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu was a Turkish politician and member of the Parliament of Turkey. He was the leader and founder of the Great Union Party , a right-wing, nationalist political party....
, were killed in the accident. Only one passenger survived the crash with injuries and made an emergency call. Due to harsh weather conditions at the crash site, the victims and the wreckage could be recovered only after two days, and the injured passenger was found dead five days later under snow.
Flight history
The helicopter was chartered by the local leaders of a minor political party, the Great Union Party , to enable their party leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu to join political rallies held the same day in neighboring provinces within the campaign for the 2009 local elections in TurkeyTurkish local elections, 2009
Turkey held local elections on 29 March 2009. The overal winner was the ruling party Justice and Development Party, although the party saw a decline in its vote relative to the 2007 general election...
. Accompanied by his party's three local leaders from Sivas Province
Sivas Province
The Sivas Province is a province of Turkey. It located at the eastern part of the Central Anatolian region of Turkey; it is the second largest province in Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Yozgat to the west, Kayseri to the southwest, Kahramanmaraş to the south, Malatya to the southeast, Erzincan...
and a news agency reporter, Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu arrived on March 25, 2009 at 13:00 EET (11:00 UCT) by helicopter in Çağlayancerit to hold a speech. He told the 1,500 people strong crowd, gathered at the town's square, that it was the first time his party chartered a helicopter and this without any financial support from the state treasury.
As the rally in Çağlayancerit was going on, the helicopter got refueled at 13:30 local time at the Kahramanmaraş Airport
Kahramanmaras Airport
Kahramanmaraş Airport is an airport in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey.-Airlines and destinations:...
. Piloted by Kaya İstektepe and carrying five passengers, the TC-HEK lifted off at 14:42 to head for Yerköy, where Yazıcıoğle would have his next public speaking scheduled at 17:00 hours. As the helicopter did not show on time, the crowd of 3,000 people gathered at the Station Square in Yerköy became worried. A short time later, deputy leader of the BBP announced the sad message that the helicopter carrying Yazıcıoğlu and his party members was missing.
The helicopter, a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger with tail number TC-HEK was produced in 1999. It joined in 2008 the fleet of Medair, a subsidiary company of Esas Holding based in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. The aircraft had seven-seat capacity for five passengers in addition to two pilots. Powered by one Allison 250
Rolls-Royce Model 250
|-External links:*...
-C30P engine, it could remain airborne for two and half hours, reach a maximum range of 508 km (274.3 nmi) with a maximum speed of 234 km/h (145.4 mph).
Crash and rescue operation
As no direct contact with the helicopter could be established, search activities were initiated. One of the helicopter passengers, İsmail Güneş, a reporter of the Ihlas News AgencyIhlas News Agency
İhlas Haber Ajansı is a Turkish news agency which was founded in 1993.IHA is one of the leading video news agencies in the world...
from Sivas, called at 16:10 local time the emergency service 112
Emergency service
Emergency services are organizations which ensure public safety and health by addressing different emergencies. Some agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies whilst others deal with ad hoc emergencies as part of their normal responsibilities...
by his mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
and told that "the helicopter he was onboard had crashed, he was injured with a broken leg and no one else, as he could see, had survived". After he added that "the battery of his mobile was running out, and he was about to die", his phone got silence. He was unable to give any further information about the location of the crash site.
In order to locate the crash site, the GSM operator subscribing Güneş's mobile phone was contacted. The calculated geographical coordinate
Geographic coordinate system
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represent vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent horizontal position...
s determined the crash site as Mount Berit in the vicinity of Hacıömer and Sisne villages around 20 km (12.4 mi) northeast of Göksun
Göksun
Göksun is a town and district of Kahramanmaraş Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey.- History :The town has an ancient history, first included in Cataonia, then in Cappadocia...
town in Kahramanmaraş Province. At 17:00 hours, search and rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
(SAR) teams were deployed on land and by air at the area. Minister of Transport
Ministry of Transport (Turkey)
The Ministry of Transport and Communication is a government ministry office of the Republic of Turkey, responsible for transport, information and communication services in Turkey. Its head office is in Ankara...
Binali Yıldırım
Binali Yildirim
Binali Yıldırım is the current Minister of Transport of Turkey and a MP for Istanbul of the ruling Justice and Development Party.He was educated the Istanbul Technical University's School of Maritime...
told that "the rescuers were receiving signals from the mobile phones in the accident area, and they are trying to locate whereabouts of the crash".
Officials of the state emergency management reported that two military special operations teams of the natural disaster rescue battalion (12 personnel each), civil defense SAR teams from Kahramanmaraş (129 personnel, 17 vehicles) and Adana
Adana
Adana is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean, in south-central Anatolia...
(27 personnel, 8 vehicles and a SAR dog
Search and rescue dog
The use of dogs in search and rescue is a valuable component in wilderness tracking, natural disasters, mass casualty events, and in locating missing people. Dedicated handlers and well-trained dogs are required for the use of dogs to be effective in search efforts...
), a gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
unit consisting of 345 personnel, 897 village guards and 60 volunteers of a disaster assistance and rescue team
Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team
The Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team is an elite team within the Singapore Civil Defence Force , formed in 1990 to handle complex rescue and fire fighting incidents, such as urban search and rescue; prolonged fire fighting; height and confined space operations; and water rescue.One of the very...
headed for the crash site on land, while two military Sikorsky helicopter
Sikorsky Aircraft
The Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. Its parent company is United Technologies Corporation.-History:...
s equipped with night vision device, one CASA aircraft of the Turkish Air Force
Turkish Air Force
The Turkish Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. It ranks 3rd in NATO in terms of fleet size behind the USAF and Royal Air Force with a current inventory of 798 aircraft .-Initial stages:...
, one police
Police aircraft
A police aircraft is an airplane, helicopter, powered paraglider, or blimpused in police operations. They are commonly used for traffic control, ground support, search and rescue, high-speed car pursuits, observation, air patrol and riot control...
H-60
HH-60 Jayhawk
The Sikorsky HH-60J Jayhawk is a multi-mission, twin-engine, medium-range helicopter operated by the United States Coast Guard for search and rescue, law enforcement, military readiness and marine environmental protection missions...
and one air ambulance
Air ambulance
An air ambulance is an aircraft used for emergency medical assistance in situations where either a traditional ambulance cannot reach the scene easily or quickly enough, or the patient needs to be transported over a distance or terrain that makes air transportation the most practical transport....
helicopter joined the search efforts in air.
Teams of the Gendarmerie and the Turkish Road Administration were engaged in opening of roadways in the mountainous area under harsh weather conditions, where the temperature fell down to -5 °C after midnight. The search operation in the region with elevation of around 2000 m (6,561.7 ft) was hampered by fog, snowstorm and deep snow of 2 m (6.6 ft).
The search efforts, concentrated around Kurucaova village and foothills of Mount Kaman during the night, were suspended at 04:00 local time, but resumed at 05:30 hours with the sunrise. At around 06:00 hours, the search teams found a group of 22 volunteers in danger of freezing and rescued them.
Minister of Interior Beşir Atalay
Besir Atalay
Beşir Atalay is a Turkish politician who is the current Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was Minister of the Interior from 28 August 2007 to 14 July 2011.-Early years and academic career:...
rushed to the region and headquartered in the nearby Kızılöz village to coordinate the SAR activities. Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
also travelled to Kahramanmaraş to oversee the operation.
Recovery
47 hours after the crash, on March 27, a group of 17 volunteers and village guards from the villages Kurucuova and Döngel southeast of Göksun encountered the wreckage amid a snowstorm as they were returning home from the search excursion. The crash site was situated close the snow covered summit of Mount Keş in the region of Sisne and Elmalı about four walking hours far from Döngel village. The area was not within the official search zone.The villagers called the authorities by phone from the crash site and told, "they found five victims dead, two of them inside the helicopter's wreckage. They were unable to identify Yazıcıoğlu since the corpses were frozen beyond recognition. The aircraft's fuselage was shattered into pieces while the tail was almost intact. They searched for the sixth victim around the wreckage without success." They added "the crash site was located in an inaccessible area and could better be reached by means of helicopter."
Officials redirected the rescuers to the area, where the wreckage was found. The next day, now three days after the crash, rescue teams reached the bodies of the five victims, pilot Kaya İstektepe, BBP leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, BBP chairman of Sivas Province Erhan Üstündağ, his deputy Yüksel Yağcı, Sivas city council candidate Murat Çetinkaya, and transported them by helicopters to the State Hospital in Kahramanmaraş. Search for the sixth passenger in the helicopter continued, however with little hope to find him alive.
During the SAR operation, a military helicopter of type Sikorsky made an emergency landing in the region due to bad weather conditions and stuck into snow. There were no casualties at the accident.
Special operations SAR teams of the Gendarmerie found finally the body of the 34-year old reporter İsmail Güneş on March 30, five days after the accident, covered by snow between two rocks around 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) east of the crash site. He eventually freed himself from the wreckage, where his foot was wedged, and sled downhill with the help of a seat from the aircraft to seek shelter under a tree beside a rock at Karayakup hill.
Güneş's corpse was flown to the State Hospital in Kahramanmaraş, where four forensic experts from Adana conducted autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
, and found that he had a broken left ankle joint and two ribs, and the reason of his death was perish from cold.
Investigation
An investigation team of the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority stated that the crashed helicopter was equipped with an emergency locater transmitter (ELT) contrary to the claims that the aircraft lacked one or it was not functioning. The ELT was not able to send signals strong enough due to its broken antenna caused by the crash. The CEO of the holding company affiliated with Medair, Ali SabancıAli Sabanci
Ali İhsan Sabancı , a member of the renowned Sabancı family in third generation, is a Turkish businessman.-Biography:Ali was born 1969 in Adana, Turkey as the second child and youngest son of Şevket Sabancı . Between 1987 and 1991, he was educated in political science and economics at Tufts...
, told that the helicopter was regularly maintained and the ELT device was installed one week before the accident.
The investigation team revealed its first findings as the helicopter, while cruising at an altitude of about 1,000-1,500 ft (300–460 m), hit the mountain due to bad weather conditions and fog. The aircraft's body broke into pieces, and some of the parts spread over an area up to 50 metres (164 ft) far from the impact point.
Aftermath
In respect for the BBP leader Yazıcıoğlu's death, all the political parties cancelled their rallies ahead of the local elections.After the local elections of March 29, the BBP unexpectedly won the seat of the mayor in Sivas Province
Sivas Province
The Sivas Province is a province of Turkey. It located at the eastern part of the Central Anatolian region of Turkey; it is the second largest province in Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Yozgat to the west, Kayseri to the southwest, Kahramanmaraş to the south, Malatya to the southeast, Erzincan...
, the province Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu was the deputy for in the parliament as his party's only member.
In a press conference, Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his appreciation to the rescue teams for their efforts despite advert weather conditions at the crash site, and announced initiation of an official investigation on a possible failure of the authorities regarding the SAR operation, which took days.