>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

REDDING, Calif. — An initial investigation into a deadly helicopter crash that killed nine people — including a Lostine man who was the pilot of the craft — in Northern California earlier this month has found that the chopper’s main rotor lost power during takeoff.

A preliminary crash report released by the National Transportation Safety Board says the Sikorsky S-61N helicopter hit trees after losing power and fell into the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

Roark Schwanenberg of Lostine was piloting the craft for Carson Helicopters. Schwanenberg, seven employees of Grayback Forestry and a Forest Service employee were killed in the crash. Eight of the dead were Oregonians.

The report says the firefighting aircraft came to rest on its left side before bursting into flames. Four of the 13 people on board survived with various injuries.

The helicopter was ferrying firefighters from a remote site on the front lines of a stubborn wildfire when it crashed the evening of Aug. 5.