R44 Raven1 Carb Icing issue

[MD900 Explorer]

Article Sourced from Vertical Magazine (http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/212607-father-crashes-helicopter-then-sues-helicopters-manufacturer)

Thoughts anyone :ugh:

MD :(

[helimutt]

Carb ice is most likely to form in certain conditions as you well know. Flying in those conditions conducive to it, is the time for it to be applied, actually before entering those conditions would be better to allow for the warm up time. Avoid reduced engine power. During training and during the theory exams, you will learn all about it and can't use the defence you never knew about it.
If the carb icing system is defective thats a different matter.:ouch:


I'm not surprised at all by the legal stand being taken, as the USA is such a litigious society nowadays.

ie lets sue Macdonalds because I got burned by spilling their coffe onto myself. (or lets sue them because my coffe was cold?) :ugh:

[rotornut]

Injured plaintiff + Texas jury = $$$$$$$$

[Johe02]

If they think the helicopter is equipped with an automatic carburetor heat control they need to think again. The helicopter is fitted with 'carb-heat assist' and is not automatic.

I guess if the cable was snapped or something it would be a different matter.

I have heard Frank rents everything. . :hmm:

[Dr Mark Cowley]

When are people going to take responsibility for their own actions, or in this case inactions? Unless the carb heat gauge had stopped working in flight, clearly after cross checking with the ouside temperature reading on the ground at start up, it would appear to be the pilots responsibility, not Mr Robinsons negligence.

[helimutt]

maybe some people are just stupid and front runners for future Darwin Awards?

[FairWeatherFlyer]

ie lets sue Macdonalds because I got burned by spilling their coffe onto myself.

That case is more complicated than a simple carb ice up, the WSJ article is well worth reading in its entirety to form a balanced/informed view on the affair:

http://www.reedmorganpc.com/wsj_coffee.htm

It turns out compensation culture arrived here with a bunch of immigrants who codifed it (on paper)!

http://libra.englang.arts.gla.ac.uk/oeteach/Units/2_Life_in.html

[rotornut]

Why didn't FR use fuel injection on the Raven I as on the II? Obviously cost but Hughes did it on their 269B and later Hughes/Schweizer machines and avoided any such problems.

[heli1]

According to the accident investigators thre was no evidence that the carb heat was defective in any way...in fact they put the incident down to an unexplained loss of power...more telling is the fact that the pilot went into autorotation but flared at 50ft and then wonders why the helicopter hit the water hard .

[scooter boy]

The carb heat control requires some input from the pilot - it is a carb heat assist rather than an outright control.

The carbon-based lifeform responsible for checking that the carb heat is correctly applied is usually the weakest link in the event chain.

Fuel injected engines from Lycoming (and Continental) became available around 1999/2000 as I recall. This probably explains why the original R44 was carburetted.

I quote Kurt Robinson (Frank's son):
"everytime there is an accident involving one of our aircraft we expect a lawsuit."

The net result:
Plaintiff remains injured/dead ... aircraft manufacturer has to increase prices due to liability suits ... lawyers get rich.

SB

[7AC]

Have a read of this.
There is an amusing line near the end about the pilots view on carburettor icing.
http://www.aaiu.ie/upload/general/10647-0.pdf

[scooter boy]

7AC, that report is an amazing read.. so he didn't believe in carb icing!! Til it got him of course.

I wonder if this pilot had ever attended a safety course or just figured his engine management logic out in the froth at the bottom of his last pint of guiness.

Fecking liability!

SB

[MD900 Explorer]

How often does the carb heat contol linkage cable snap on R44/R22 models? I have never heard of one going :eek:

MD :suspect: