Forced landing at North Weald

[Jamie-Southend]

Essex Fire and Rescue website are reporting a helicopter down at North Weald this afternoon, with no fatalities thankfully, on what has to be a dreadful weekend in aviation.

http://www.essex-fire.gov.uk/pages/index.asp?area=5&id=46

[TheMonk]

Not much detail there is there?

Monk

[airborne_artist]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/6997784.stm

"The Subaru rally team chief and his wife survived unhurt when their helicopter crash-landed in Essex.

Police said Dave Richards and his wife "walked out of the wreckage" near North Weald Airfield and were treated for shock by paramedics.
Mr Richards, is chief executive of Prodrive, which runs the Subaru World Rally Team.
He was in charge when Colin McRae, who has died in a helicopter crash in Lanarkshire, won his world rally title.
Mr Richards and his wife were returning to their home at Banbury, Oxfordshire, after attending the Belgian Grand Prix.
Mill Lane alongside the field where the wreckage lies has been sealed off awaiting the arrival of Air Accident Investigation Branch staff."

[wg13_dummy]

BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/6997784.stm)


Rally boss in helicopter escape
The Subaru rally team chief and his wife survived unhurt when their helicopter crash-landed in Essex.

Police said Dave Richards and his wife "walked out of the wreckage" near North Weald Airfield and were treated for shock by paramedics.

Mr Richards, is chief executive of Prodrive, which runs the Subaru World Rally Team.

He was in charge when Colin McRae, who has died in a helicopter crash in Lanarkshire, won his world rally title.

Mr Richards and his wife were returning to their home at Banbury, Oxfordshire, after attending the Belgian Grand Prix.

Mill Lane alongside the field where the wreckage lies has been sealed off awaiting the arrival of Air Accident Investigation Branch staff.

Seems to be a lucky escape thank goodness.

[on21]

Is it his own personal machine or a charter?

[Helinut]

Good to hear they wre uninjured or only slightly.

The Pro-Drive helicopter is/was a JAR 27/29 compliant EC135 (assuming that is what they were flying). There is a value in such standards in a crash. The Strathclyde EC135 helicopter crash certainly showed the value of a crashworthy airframe. If it had happened in a pravious generation aircraft, the result would have been likely to have been much worse for the occupants.

No mention of paid pilot-just 2 onboard according to the reports. Can anyone confirm whether Dave Richards (or his wife) is a hele pilot?

[Glen Rothes]

Dave is a licensed helicopter pilot.

GR

[Heliport]

He was flying on this occasion, but also uses professionals to fly him - usually Jeremy James.


H.

[zorab64]

I have it on very good authority that Mr Richards was flying at the time, his wife in the left seat.

G-IWRC, EC135 T2 landed in a recently ploughed field but tipped over on its side; rotor blades disintegrating, tail a bit bent, but the cabin almost entirely intact, just broken perspex. Emergency services on scene very quickly ( just next to North Weald) and both occupants out without a scratch. A good combination of modern helicopter construction, piloting and maybe a little luck, depending on what/who you believe in, given the tragic events of the last 24 hours, especially for this couple.

From what I have heard, we will have to await AAIB report, as speculation as to cause (in this case) would be a complete waste of time.

Thank goodness for a positive outcome:ok:

[Carmoisine]

Rally boss in helicopter escape


Subaru rally team chief Dave Richards and his wife survived unhurt when their helicopter crash-landed in Essex.

Police said Mr Richards, 55, and his wife, Karen, "walked out of the wreckage" near North Weald Airfield and were treated for shock by paramedics.

Mr Richards, awarded a CBE in 2005, is chief executive of Prodrive.

It runs the Subaru World Rally Team that Colin McRae, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, won his world rally title with in 1995.

Mr Richards had earlier led the tributes to McRae, who was killed along with his five-year-old son, Johnny, and two other people following the accident in Lanarkshire.

Mr Richards and his wife were returning to their home at Banbury, Oxfordshire, after attending the Belgian Grand Prix.

Mill Lane, which is alongside the field where the wreckage lies, has been sealed off awaiting the arrival of Air Accident Investigation Branch staff.

"Something failed on the transmission system," Richards told autosport.com.

"Because of what happened with Colin yesterday, we didn't want to stay at Spa, we wanted to come back home early.

"We were nearing Stansted airport when we heard this bang at the back of the aircraft.

"I was talking to the control at Stansted at the time, so I immediately gave them a May Day call, and the rescue crew came within minutes.

"Then, everything failed but I managed to bring it down to the ground, and it fell on its side."

A Prodrive spokesman added: "David and Colin were great friends and it's an amazing coincidence that this has happened.

"Colin was a Subaru driver for many years and during that time he and David got to know each other very well. David is devastated about what has happened to Colin.

"We are just thankful he and Karen are OK."

The spokesman said Mr Richards, who was piloting a Eurocopter EC 135, experienced mechanical problems over Essex while travelling at about 1,500ft.

He said Mr Richards managed to bring the aircraft down in a field and both he and his wife escaped unhurt.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/essex/6997784.stm