Abstract: At approximately 8:25 a.m. on October 4, 2002, Employee #1, a rigging slinger, was logging an area of second growth tree length timber with several coworkers. They were operating a Thunderbird Swing Yarder (Model Number: 6255), running a skyline system with a mechanical slack pulling carriage, set up to turn five logs in four chokes. The turn portion of the yarder was connected to the landing, rigged to a ridge with a rock bluff below. Visibility was low due to foggy conditions. After rigging the equipment, Employee #1 and his coworkers retreated to open ground, approximately 50-feet to 80-feet from the rig. A malfunction occurred when the turn reached the rock bluff, causing two chokes to break, releasing three tree length logs downhill. The first and second logs came down almost simultaneously, one approximately 100-feet to the left of the clearing where they were standing and the other somewhere in the nearby skyline. As Employee #1 and his coworkers stepped out of the safe area to assess the situation, the third log came down striking Employee #1. Emergency services responded promptly, revealing that Employee #1 had died due to his injuries.