On 17th May 2004 a Royal Navy Sea King was being used to lower a Mountain Rescue team member to the aid of a fallen scrambler on Pike O'Stickle. While deploying a person on the helicopter winch the rotor blades of the helicopter struck a crag face. The person on the winch had just reached the ground but still attached to the winch when the blade struck and released himself from the strop as the aircraft began to move away. He sustained serious injuries after falling some distance. The helicopter immediately left the scene and landed in Mickleden. The damaged Sea King was later lifted from the scene by an RAF Chinook and a video on Youtube shows this being done.
Aircrew - 3 Un-named crew.
Passenger - Mr Les Telford (Kendal MRT).
Passenger (on winch) - Mr Peter Munford (Kendal MRT). aged 38. Injured.
Here it would be right to include the following statement that was given by Andy Dell of Kendal MRT in response to many in-accurate media reports following the incident....
"To provide factual information, the course of events leading to the incident was as follows: Circa 14.30 LAMRT were paged by Cumbria Police to assist a fallen scrambler high on
the face of Pike O’Stickle. When Kendal MRT arrived in Mickleden LAMRT were still on the way up the fell to the casualty. Shortly after, Rescue 177, a Sea King from RNAS Gannett at
Prestwick, arrived on scene and lowered its winchman onto a ledge about 8 feet above the casualty. The winchman requested rapid deployment of a team to belay and secure the cas site.
LAMRT Team Leader directed the helicopter to lift the 3 Kendal members from the valley bottom to the top of the fell with rope and cragsac and helmets for the casualty and 2
informants/companions on scene. The 3 Kendal members were: Andy Dell (Team Leader), Pete Munford, Les Telford. I (Andy Dell) was first to be winched onto the crag, with 100m
static rope and cragsac. Pete Munford was second to be winched. He made contact with the ground on a bilberry ledge about 5 feet from me. At the same moment the aircraft rotors made
contact with the crag above, sending blade debris down the crag and the helicopter into a crash dive down into the valley bottom. I saw Pete
tumbling down steep ground partly in the strop, which he was trying to get off. Both the aircraft and Pete went out of view from
the cas site. The aircraft made a forced landing in the valley bottom, and all 3 aircrew and Les Telford were able to walk away
shaken but unhurt. With no comms to the valley bottom and limited gear, the first casualty was belayed to the crag along with his companion who
was supporting his legs to prevent him sliding off from a very precarious position. Leaving the winchman and one LAMRT
member who had arrived on scene to deal as best they could with the original casualty, I continued to abseil down the crag to
locate Pete. I made the incorrect assumption that the aircrew had cut the winch cable. Pete was located about 60-70 feet down
the crag. Two LAMRT members had traversed into the position where he lay and were providing immediate first aid. Using their
radio comms were established with control and a situation report given. A second aircraft was sent from RAF Boulmer and
arrived on site some 45 minutes later. Pete was the first casualty to be airlifted, in a cervical collar / vacuum mattress and Stokes litter. He was flown to Cumberland
Infirmary at Carlisle. An initial assessment at the hospital showed he had a fractured wrist. Later at night it was confirmed he
also had a lumbar spinal injury, both of which we had picked up on our initial assessment. With the aircraft away to Carlisle, all
efforts were turned to the evacuation of the original casualty who had been attended to by the winchman and other members of
LAMRT. Using a Neil Robinson stretcher which the aircraft had winched down the patient was extracted and lowered from
where he had fallen, to a safer place for winching. When the aircraft returned from Carlisle it lowered a Stokes litter in which the
casualty was lifted along with the RNAS winchman. This casualty was also flown to Cumberland infirmary where he was
detained with an upper arm fracture. RAF Leeming MRT arrived to secure the scene of the helicopter grounding. Another
aircraft from RNAS Gannet arrived to recover their aircrew.... The above is a factual statement."
The day after this flying mishap a member of RAF Leeming MRT fell on Pike O'Stickle while collecting debris from the damaged Sea King
and suffered injuries. He was airlifted to hospital by another Sea King.