Old Aircrane crash video wanted

[jab]

Does anyone have a link to a crash many years ago where the snorkel pump on an Aircrane did not switch off and the helicopter descended into the lake?

Whilst trying to find it, I found the following horror story, does anyone have more details? I never believed in practicing for a stuck collective as I considered the chances of it happening to be so slim as to be negligible, until it happened to me last year. I don't even want to know how the pilot felt in this story below!:eek:

"The fourth case reenacted in the “Lessons Learned” video, a helicopter incident with potential, occurred in February 1997, when a Forest Service employee who was conducting an elk census violated agency safety regulations by boarding a Hiller 12 helicopter that had not been inspected and certified by the Forest Service.

During the flight, a broken linkage rod disabled the steering mechanism, and the pilot could no longer guide the aircraft down. With the helicopter ascending at full pitch into the clouds, a fatal outcome seemed inevitable. In a desperate effort to restore control to the pilot, the Forest Service employee stepped out onto the helicopter skids and spent 30 minutes in freezing winds trying to repair the damaged rod. With his hands frozen and his gloves and a contact lens blown away, he finally managed to slip a makeshift pin into the linkage, enabling the pilot to regain control."

[Canuck Guy]

Yours is a great example of why we should always practice for any failure, no matter how remote the chances of it happening.

[rotordude]

Jab, I recognize the story you mentioned. Interresting reading for sure!
The story can be found here: Saved by a Leatherman (http://home.earthlink.net/~quade/leatherman.html)

Enjoy!

[jab]

Thanks Rotordude, what a story!

CG, I generally agree with what you say and I had thought about a stuck collective and what to do but had never practiced it. In the story above, I don't know of any way he could have got down. Might have whacked on the bank to 70 degrees, loaded it up and kept it there until they flew into the ground but I don't know the Hiller and don't know if he would have been able to descend in a steep turn with full collective. What would you recommend?

[Canuck Guy]

Don't think I'd recommend anything, not being an instructor or a high time pilot. All I can add is what I was taught should this ever happen.

First, pray it doesn't happen at a takeoff power setting! If it does you're not totally screwed, just need a lot more finess than in a cruise setting.

Use an maneuver you can to descend without rolling off throttle. Steep banks, mixing the cyclic like mad, nosing over hard without exceeding Vne. If those do nothing to get you close to the ground then start rolling off throttle a hair at a time. All you need is 100'/minute down and you're good. Start looking for a long area for a run-on landing, an airport is ideal of course. Using throttle and some degree of nose down, keep the ROD very shallow, you don't want to use big inputs at any time near the ground.

As you get lined up with your LZ, bring the airspeed back to just above translation. Do so with a mix of very slight nose up and adjust throttle to stop it from climbing.

In a perfect world you'll be lined up over the threshold at 100'. Nose down enough to get with 20' of the surface. You'll be coming in hot so ignore the instinct to pull up at all costs. You want to grease it on like a Cessna at about 40 kts. Start rolling back a tiny bit more throttle to overcome ground effect and get it to sink, using cyclic to keep the skids level. Rrpm will decay but if you're still above translation it'll help enough to keep you from dropping like a stone the last 10'.

Once on the ground, keep straight with pedals and very slowly reduce throttle to idle. Nothing too abrupt or the torque loss will send you off spinning like a top.

Don't know if that's what other are taught, but it's what was shown to me and it works with a little luck. Pretty ugly arrival but beats the alternative!

Any thoughts or suggestions?