(OT) Sad little day

T

Tailwind

Charter Member
OK so I drive on some back roads some times to get to work. One day last year I notice a farm house that that I drive by that has been up for sale has finally been bought. Shortly after that I notice lots of work going on fixing things up, cleaning the property and painting the out buildings. The place turns into a real gem. Then one day I notice the guy has a helicopter sitting in his yard. A little two seat kit job nice looking with a neat black and red paint job.

About two or three times a week I drive by in the morning and there it sits. On the way home I notice its not there so I figure he fly's to work in the city and comes home after I pass by in the evening.

Well today in the paper I read about a helicopter crash, black and red job, near my home. I get to thinking what are the odds. Sure enough my little helicopter guy crashed on the way home yesterday and was killed outright. Witness says he saw the guy flying and then suddenly headed straight into the ground with no warning.

I never knew the guy but the fact that he shared an great interest in flying and obviously had a very successful life that ended far to quickly has left me moved and saddened.

RIP helicopter guy RIP

:engel016:

TW
 
yea life has a way of pointing things to new directions on its blueprint of life


i suppose one day will make sense for now its sad .


joshua /loverboy1
 
TW,

Sorry to hear about this accident. There have been a lot of accidents here in the US with the lightweight Robinson helicopters over the past several years as they are inexpensive and very popular.

I understand that this was in fact a R22. Here is some info on the leading cause of acidents in this aircraft. Don't know if this is in fact what happened but it does a lot here in the US. Flying Helicopters is more demanding than fixed wing aircraft and the lower powered piston choppers have a higher accident rate than the more expensive jet powered models. Training and experience also figure heavily in the equation.


"Low RPM rotor stall which accounts for 14% of the fatal accidents has no recovery. Letting the rotor get below 80% plus 1% for each thousand feet of altitude will cause low RPM rotor stall. Overpitching the collective in such cases as high density altitude at full throttle will accelerate this likelihood. Other pilots have accomplished this by rolling the throttle the wrong way on early helicopter models without the governor. Sometimes pilots have even managed to overide the governor by squeezing the throttle so hard the governor was disabled (as its supposed to). If you want to prevent low RPM rotor stall, learn how to recognize it. The engine noise is be drastically lowered leading to an increase in vibration. If that wasn't enough, the Low RPM light and horn will come on at 97%. So there are plenty of warnings... there's the rotor warning horn plus 20% of rotor to decay before you get there, but should you succeed, your reward is instant death. Simultaneously increasing the throttle, down collective, and aft cyclic is the proper recovery for low RPM rotor conditions. Remember, below 80% (in a robbie), you're dead.

Rotor stalls can occur at any airspeed and it's more critical at altitude because you're likely to be at full throttle. Another factor is the relationship between engine power to engine RPM. If you want to get 100% of the rated horsepower out of the engine, you'll need to have rotor at full speed first. See RHC Safety Notices 10 and 24 for further information.

Low G Mast Bumping accounts for 7% of the fatal accidents. It is very common on demonstration (discovery) flights and when the private pilot takes out his first passenger. Mast bumping is the result of excessive rotor flapping and can occur due to to out of CG conditions and low G conditions. If excessive roll rates develop, the pilot may apply abrupt opposite cyclic. As a result the mast is likely to be bumped if the rotor disk is not loaded (low G condition). "

Regards,

Steve


 
Hi yes very sad. I can only surmise that he was a very popular person and a family man. I drove by the property on the way home yesterday and it was jammed full of cars. There was not enough room in the large lane area and they had to park on the street. It was on the news last night and they stated that his wife and next of kin where to distraught to comment on the crash.

In an update, witnesses state that he flew straight into the ground, into an orchard. The helicopter burst into flames on impact and they had no chance of rescuing him. He likely died on impact anyway. The manufacturer has sent a team of investigators up but there is little left of the machine to look at so they likely will never know exactly what happened.

TW
 
sorry to hear about that tdub

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/18/2689842.htm

this flight killed alot of Australian's on a flight
to the Island where they will walk the trail which
in WWII was walked the same route as the Australian's
battled the Japanese. Really a great story if you
have time to read about it and research it.

My prayers go out to his family and those that were also killed in this PNG Kokoda flight from Australia
 
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