NTSB: Yosemite firefighting helicopter had bucket trouble hours before fatal crash

A firefighting helicopter that crashed in Yosemite National Park in September had already run into trouble with its water bucket earlier on the same day, according to a new report from American air crash investigators. The helicopter went down hours later, killing both pilots — and the report raises a question investigators have not yet answered: whether the bucket problem played a part in the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its preliminary report on Friday, 30 October 2026, more than five weeks after the crash. The report does not determine the cause. What it does is lay out, almost minute by minute, what happened on Sunday, 20 September, when the crew flew a long shift over the Dome Fire in the southern part of the park.

The two men who died were pilots Greg King and Ryan Cutter, who worked for Fly Precision, an Oregon-based company contracted to help fight the fire. They were the only people on board the Airbus AS332 Super Puma when it went down near Ostrander Lake, about seven miles north-east of Wawona and roughly nine miles south of El Capitan. The photograph with this article shows a similar AS332 Super Puma on a firefighting mission in Switzerland in 2015, not the aircraft that crashed.

At a glance

What happened: On Friday, 30 October 2026, the NTSB released a preliminary report on the crash of an Airbus AS332 Super Puma that went down in Yosemite National Park on Sunday, 20 September, killing pilots Greg King and Ryan Cutter. The report says the crew had problems with the helicopter’s 800-gallon water bucket during a morning flight, that mechanics tightened the bucket’s air pressure regulator and checked the system, and that the helicopter crashed during its third water drop after taking off again.

Why it matters: The report is the first official account of the flight, and it puts a known equipment problem on the record hours before the crash. It does not say the bucket caused the accident, but investigators will now have to decide whether the two are connected.

What happens next: The NTSB is continuing its investigation. It has recovered the cockpit voice recorder, but much of the wreckage was badly burned and still has to be removed from the remote crash site and examined. A final report, which will state a probable cause, will come later.

What the new report says

The NTSB’s preliminary report covers the flight in detail, drawing on flight data and video taken by firefighters on the ground. It describes a day that began normally, with the crew flying water drops onto the Dome Fire, a wildfire burning in the park since 15 September.

During the morning, the helicopter made more than 25 water drops in a flight lasting nearly three hours. It was carrying an 800-gallon bucket — a large container that hangs from the helicopter on a 200-foot line and is filled by dipping it into a lake. Eight hundred gallons of water weighs about 6,700 pounds, or roughly three tonnes, so each drop means lifting and releasing a very heavy load, again and again.

During that morning flight the crew ran into problems with the bucket. The report does not say exactly what went wrong, only that mechanics tightened the bucket’s air pressure regulator and pressure-checked the system when the helicopter landed. The regulator is part of the mechanism that controls how the bucket opens and closes, so it matters every time the crew fills the bucket or empties it over a fire.

After the maintenance work, the helicopter took off again. The crew flew to Ostrander Lake, a high mountain lake in the southern part of the park, and made three more water drops. The crash happened during the third of those drops, at around 1:56 in the afternoon.

The last seconds

The report’s account of the final moments is short, but it is precise. After the pilots emptied the bucket on the third drop, the helicopter swung to the left — investigators described it as “yawing to the left”, meaning its nose turned sideways while the aircraft was still moving — and then began to descend rapidly, at 1,344 feet per minute. That is more than 22 feet every second, far faster than a controlled descent.

At the same time, the bucket came away from the helicopter. According to the report, the bucket appeared to drop almost vertically and struck the ground, and the cargo hook was then released, dropping the 200-foot cable that had held the bucket. Video from the scene shows the bucket was released about five seconds before the crash.

The helicopter kept moving forward, then hit trees and struck the ground, coming to rest on its left side, in forest with a canopy 100 to 150 feet high — leaving very little clear space to come down in.

Most of the helicopter was consumed by fire after the crash, which has made the investigators’ job harder. The report says no meaningful data could be recovered from most of the cockpit gauges because of the fire damage. But one important piece of evidence survived: the cockpit voice recorder was recovered from the scene.

Who the pilots were

Greg King and Ryan Cutter were the only two people on board. Both worked for Fly Precision, the Oregon-based contractor that owned and operated the aircraft under contract to Cal Fire, California’s firefighting agency.

The company identified the two men publicly in the days after the crash. “These two men brought honor to the mission,” Fly Precision wrote in a social media post. “Their dedication and service will never be forgotten.”

The pilots had been contracted to work with an Idaho-based wildland firefighting crew that specialises in helitack rappelling — using ropes to lower firefighters from a helicopter into terrain that cannot be reached any other way. The Super Puma can carry eight or more rappelers at a time, and it can also be fitted with water buckets or fixed tanks.

On the Monday after the crash, firefighters, police officers and other first responders lined the route to a local airport as the men’s remains were taken home to their families.

The Dome Fire

The helicopter was fighting the Dome Fire, a wildfire in the southern part of Yosemite National Park, near the town of Wawona. The fire was started by an abandoned campfire near the southern entrance to the park on Tuesday, 15 September 2026.

In the days after the crash, nearly 600 ground and air personnel were assigned to the fire, which had burned more than 3,200 acres and was 15 percent contained by midday on Monday, 21 September. Spotting — embers carried by the wind starting new fires ahead of the main blaze — was a big challenge.

The fire kept growing. It ultimately scorched 6,788 acres, or about 10.6 square miles, in and around the national park, and it was not declared fully contained until Saturday, 17 October — more than a month after it started. Yosemite remained open throughout the fire, although some trails were closed.

How water-bucket firefighting works

A helicopter fighting a wildfire does not carry water inside the aircraft. Instead, it carries a bucket on a long line beneath it. The pilot flies to a lake, lowers the bucket into the water until it fills, then flies to the fire and releases the water over the flames.

The line in this case was 200 feet long — about 61 metres. That keeps the helicopter high above the trees and the heat while the bucket hangs low enough to reach the water or the fire. But it also means the pilot is flying with a heavy load swinging below the aircraft, which changes how the helicopter handles. Every time the bucket is filled or emptied, the weight of the aircraft changes suddenly, by about three tonnes in this case, and the pilot has to adjust immediately.

The bucket has a valve at the bottom, worked by air pressure, which the pilot uses to release the water at the right moment. That is why the air pressure regulator — the part the mechanics tightened that morning — matters. If the valve does not open or close properly, the water may not release when the pilot wants it to, changing the helicopter’s weight and balance without warning.

None of this means the bucket caused the crash. The report says only that there was a problem, that it was worked on, and that the helicopter crashed later the same day. Whether the two are connected is exactly what the investigation now has to establish.

Why the cause is still unknown

A preliminary report from the NTSB is not the same as a final verdict. It sets out the facts investigators have established so far — what happened, when, and in what order — but it does not say what caused the accident. That finding comes later, in a final report, after all the evidence has been gathered and examined.

In this case, several pieces of evidence are still missing or damaged. Most of the helicopter burned after the crash, destroying the cockpit instruments. The voice recorder was recovered, but matching it against the flight data takes time, and the wreckage still has to be removed from the remote, forested crash site and examined piece by piece.

Investigators will also look closely at the bucket and its control system, including the regulator adjusted that morning. They will want to know exactly what problem the crew reported, what the mechanics did, and whether the system worked normally on the three drops that followed, as well as examining the maintenance records, flight data and ground video. The NTSB has not given a date for its final report, and investigations of this kind commonly take many months.

A dangerous job

Aerial firefighting is one of the most dangerous jobs in aviation. Helicopters fly low, in smoke, over steep and uneven ground, carrying heavy loads that change the aircraft’s handling with every drop. They work in heat and turbulence above a fire, near tall trees, and often in remote places where a forced landing is unlikely to end well.

The crash in Yosemite happened in exactly those conditions: a mountain lake, a forest with a canopy 100 to 150 feet high, and a wildfire burning nearby. When the helicopter lost control, it had seconds, not minutes, and very little open ground below it. Water drops from the air can slow a fire, protect crews on the ground, and buy time for firefighters to build containment lines.

What happens next

The next steps are the recovery and examination of the wreckage, analysis of the cockpit voice recorder and flight data, and a detailed look at the bucket system and the morning’s maintenance.

The agency may also issue safety recommendations before its final report if it finds something that needs to change quickly, such as how buckets are inspected or maintained. For now, it has said only that the investigation continues and no cause has been determined. The Dome Fire itself is out, fully contained since 17 October.

Frequently asked questions

What did the NTSB report actually say?

The preliminary report, released on Friday, 30 October 2026, says the helicopter had problems with its 800-gallon water bucket during a morning flight on 20 September, that mechanics tightened the bucket’s air pressure regulator, and that the helicopter crashed during its third water drop after taking off again. It does not determine the cause.

Who died in the crash?

Pilots Greg King and Ryan Cutter, who worked for Fly Precision, an Oregon-based company contracted to fight the Dome Fire. They were the only people on board the helicopter.

What kind of helicopter was it?

An Airbus AS332 Super Puma, a large twin-engine helicopter often used for firefighting, search and rescue, and carrying crews. It was operated by a Cal Fire contractor and was carrying a water bucket on a 200-foot line when it crashed.

Did the bucket problem cause the crash?

That is not known. The report records the bucket problem and the repair, and then the crash a few hours later, but it does not link the two. Investigators will examine the bucket system, the maintenance records, the flight data and the cockpit voice recorder before reaching any conclusion.

What is a preliminary report, and when will the final report come?

A preliminary report sets out the facts investigators have found so far, without stating a cause. The final report, which gives a probable cause and may include safety recommendations, comes later, after the wreckage has been examined and all the evidence analysed.

How big was the Dome Fire, and is it out?

The fire started from an abandoned campfire on 15 September 2026 and ultimately burned 6,788 acres, or about 10.6 square miles. It was declared fully contained on Saturday, 17 October 2026.

Conclusion

The NTSB’s preliminary report answers some questions about the Yosemite helicopter crash and raises the one that matters most. We now know that the crew had trouble with the water bucket on the morning of 20 September, that mechanics worked on it, and that the helicopter went down a few hours later, just after emptying the bucket for the third time. We know the helicopter swung left and fell fast, that the bucket came away seconds before impact, and that the wreckage burned so badly most instruments were destroyed.

What we do not know — and what the report is careful not to claim — is why it happened. That answer will depend on the cockpit voice recorder, on the wreckage that still has to be recovered from a remote mountainside, and on a close examination of the bucket system that was adjusted that morning.

Greg King and Ryan Cutter died doing dangerous work that protects forests, towns and the firefighters on the ground. The investigation now owes them, and their families, a clear account of what went wrong.

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.

Sources

• https://www.firehouse.com/operations-training/wildland/news/55415813/water-bucket-issues-reported-before-helicopter-crash-that-killed-two-yosemite-firefighters (Firehouse, via Los Angeles Times, 31 October 2026)
• https://www.firerescue1.com/aviation-incidents-airports-and-arff/ntsb-details-final-moments-before-fatal-yosemite-firefighting-helicopter-crash (FireRescue1, via SFGate, 30 October 2026)
• https://www.fireengineering.com/fire-apparatus/aerial-apparatus/firefighting-helicopter-jettisoned-troublesome-water-bucket-seconds-before-fatal-ca-crash-ntsb/ (Fire Engineering, via SFGate, 30 October 2026)
• https://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=634C0C20-3C5F-46AE-BA06-F5CF28FC76ED (Aero-News, 23 September 2026)
• https://kvnutalk.com/helicopter-fighting-yosemite-national-park-fire-crashes-killing-2-officials/ (KVNU, via ABC News, 21 September 2026)