Bell 212 accident in Spain

[Heliharm]

About 2 weeks ago this Bell 212 was heading for a fire fighting mission in Castilla y Leon. I do not know what exactly went wrong but during normal, hard or forced landing one skid broke off and tumbled over. Everbody managed to get out of the helicopter before it bursted into flames. They firemen took this picture of them with the burning wreckage behind them.
The helicopters used are old former army helicopter which are restricted only to fly in a certain area and prohibited to fly over urban areas.

http://blogs.periodistadigital.com/aviaciondigital.php/2006/07/21/c_g_t_se_releva_contra_los_restricted

[CyclicRick]

I have to take issue with the " ex-military not allowed to carry pax" bit. I used to fly for a company that regularly supplied ( and flew) 205's and 212's for the firefighting season in Spain and France and we weren't the only ones. All the helicopters (that I know of and saw) were civil and JAA/JAR TP3 category. There were a number of incidents (Spain) most of which were due to 'hot/high/overloaded' and 'not looking out of the window' reasons after they were eventually handed over to the operating crews. I just hope that the 212 involved wasn't one of them, I also hope it eventually received a little more help than they are demonstrating in the photo opportunity :eek:

[cptjim]

I just love the laid back attitude of the spanish...'let's just pose for our picture then we'll go and deal with the fire!!' :ugh:

[B Sousa]

"The helicopters used are old former army helicopter which are restricted only to fly in a certain area and prohibited to fly over urban areas."

I think you may be confusing the "restricted category" for ex-mil aircraft in the U.S. It would depend on what the rules are in Spain or BFE. Some BFEs have no rules, only bribes. Also if it was a 212 it would not have been a US Army Aircraft, maybe one of the other branches or it was an AB-212 from a government outside of the US. Lots of variables would allow it to fly in Spain.

[Heliharm]

La Confederación General del Trabajo (C.G.T.) ha emitido una nota de prensa denunciando la contratación de helicópteros “restricted” por parte de la Junta de Castilla y León, y denunciando que el Ministerio de Fomento permita que las cuadrillas de incendios vuelen en estas “chatarras volantes”, aún teniendo prohibido el transporte de personas dada sus restricciones operativas. Estos helicópteros también tiene prohibido sobrevolar núcleos urbanos.

In the first alinea you can read that these helicopters are restricted to the region Castilla y Leon and the second red line says that these helicopters are prohibited to fly over urban areas.
In Spain there is also a restricted category.

[rotorboy]

Any one know who the operator was?

RB

[Heliharm]

The company was Heliduero, the helicopter was a ex-military chopper from Israel.