Specialized helicopter that crashed while fighting wildfire near Ouray belonged to Georgia company 8%
By Olivia Prentzel15% Jesse Paul9%
7/13/2026, 9:27:18 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 12 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Availability Heuristic, and Burden of Proof, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 20.7% saturation with 117 hits. Analysis detected 517 faulty-reasoning hits from 564 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 24% and a BS Rank of 8% (20,314 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 92.80% of the article peer group.
The heavy-lift helicopter that crashed Sunday in western Colorado while battling a fire near Ouray, killing the pilot and sole occupant, had been doing water drops from Silver Jack Reservoir for less than an hour when it went down in the lake, according to a flight-tracking website.
Nicholas Dale, of Sooke, British Columbia, was flying in a K-MAX helicopter, which is frequently used in firefighting, logging and construction, according to the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office.
Dale was 56.
The specialized single-pilot helicopter is designed for making repetitive heavy lifts.
At 5,000 feet above sea level, it can transport up to about 5,600 pounds, according to the manufacturer's website.
The aircraft arrived in Colorado on July 6, according to FlightAware.com, and had been battling the Gold Mountain fire near Ouray for several days.
A photo of a Kaman K-MAX helicopter belonging to a British Columbia, Canada-based wildfire crew, taken April 24, 2024.
(Photo provided by Kaman, via Associated Press)
Dale is the fourth person killed while battling wildfires in Colorado this year as drought, extreme heat and dry vegetation fuel dangerous fire conditions across the state.
Three federal firefighters were killed June 27 while battling the Snyder fire, which started in Utah and moved into Colorado.
The K-MAX helicopter that crashed in Silver Jack Reservoir, which sits at 8,925 feet elevation in southwestern Gunnison County, went down about 5 p.m.
Sunday, according to FlightAware.
Gunnison County Sheriff Adam Murdie said his office received a call about the crash at 5:17 p.m.
The Montrose County Sheriff’s Office dive team later recovered the body.
The helicopter was registered to Helicopter Express LLC in Georgia and was built in 2019, according to FlightAware and federal aircraft registration records.
An employee declined to comment when reached by phone Monday morning.
Kaman Aircraft discontinued the production of the K-MAX heavy lift helicopters in January 2023 due to low demand, trade publication Aviation International news reported.
The company said the move was part of its strategy to eliminate “non-value-added activities” and improve financial performance.
The procession of federal, state and local emergency vehicles accompanying the body of the helicopter pilot who died while fighting the Gold Mountain fire turns onto Community Hospital’s campus in Grand Junction beneath a flag fluttering from a firetruck’s ladder on Monday.
(Gretel Daugherty/Special to the Colorado Sun)
Another fire blew up on the edge of Gunnison County this weekend and has now torched nearly 500 acres near Elk City.
The Elk Fire has prompted pre-evacuation notices around Lake City.
Once conditions are safe, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
After the wreckage has been documented, the helicopter will be moved to a facility for further examination, said Peter Knudson, a spokesperson for the safety board.
Investigators will be collecting flight track data, recordings of any air traffic control communications, aircraft maintenance records and details on the pilot, including their flight experience and 72-hour background to determine if there were any issues that could have affected the pilot’s ability to safely operate the flight.
Witness statements, surveillance footage and any electronic devices that could contain information relevant to the investigation will also be collected.
The NTSB is asking anyone with information that could be pertinent to the investigation to contact witness@ntsb.gov.
Reporter Nancy Lofholm contributed to this report.
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