It’s been an eventful month for two pilots at Beta Technologies, the cutting-edge aviation firm based at Burlington International Airport.
First, there was the forced helicopter landing.
Pilot Nathaniel Fortin of Swanton was flying an Enstrom 280FX, a light helicopter registered to Beta Air LLC, from Plattsburgh (N.Y.) International Airport to the Burlington airport on July 30.
According to a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report, Fortin reported “smelling something burning and then smoke in the cockpit.” He started to land, but then suffered a partial and then full loss of engine “in rapid succession.” He said the loss of power began with rising exhaust gas temperature.
Fortin completed an autorotation landing, which is an emergency landing with the power cut off from the main rotor of the helicopter, with the upward thrust of air turning the blades as the aircraft falls. He managed to land the helicopter on the Lake Champlain Causeway, but fire destroyed the airframe of the aircraft.
Fortin suffered “serious” injuries, according to the NTSB report. Colchester Fire Department personnel transported him, according to Colchester Police Chief Douglas Allen. He was taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center and later released.
Allen said a team from Beta dismantled what was left of the helicopter and took it away. The NTSB said it was retained for further examination.
Fortin did not respond to two messages seeking comment.
On top of its own experimental electric aircraft, Beta Air LLC owns 14 helicopters and light planes, according to the FAA registry.
“We have a fleet of aircraft that are used for a few purposes,” said a Beta spokesperson in an email. “First is logistics and transportation. In particular, we use our fleet of aircraft to transport people and materials to and from Burlington and Plattsburgh, home of our flight test facility.
“The second is our flight training program, which gives our engineers and other team members the opportunity to learn and experience flight. This program is born of the theory we are all more effective at our jobs — regardless of where we work in the organization — when we better understand and experience flight. This helps all of us in our quest to build a smart, safe and zero operational emission aircraft.”
The second incident happened not with one of Beta’s aircraft, but with Beta founder Kyle Clark flying.
Clark did not respond to a request for comment.
In the plane with Clark on Aug. 15 was George Coy, an owner of Border Air, which runs the Franklin County State Airport.
The two were flying an Antonov AN2, a biplane first designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union but subsequently manufactured in Poland. Coy said it is still manufactured in China.
Clark and Coy were flying the plane from Laconia, N.H., where its previous owner had kept it. Clark had recently bought the plane and had asked Coy to fly back with him as an “expert” passenger, Coy said jokingly. Coy had once bought a similar aircraft in Lithuania.
Coy said in a telephone interview they were on their way to Burlington when they started to experience engine trouble. They asked the airport’s control tower for priority to land.
“The engine was a little rougher,” said Coy, so instead of heading to Burlington they looked for somewhere to touch down. “We just had a little bit of engine trouble and decided to land.”
“The plane flew over my house and it didn’t sound good,” said Richmond Fire Chief Dennis Gile in a telephone interview.
Gile said Clark reported he circled once over a hayfield in Richmond and then landed in it because he did not want to land in a cornfield.
“It was really a precautionary landing,” Coy said.
The Richmond, Bolton, and Vermont Air National Guard fire departments responded, and the Air National Guard helped tow the plane into a shaded corner of the hayfield.
Coy said the engine was starting to come apart.
“Something failed in the engine,” he said. “We have to look in the engine.”
Coy explained that the plane uses a radial engine, which looks like the kind used in World War II aircraft. It has nine cylinders.
“We have a spare engine,” Coy said. “A friend brought one up from Pennsylvania and we should be putting it in Friday or Saturday.”