Pictures of Helicopter Wire Strikes

[Shawn Coyle]

I'm trying to find data on helicopters that have had wire strikes or obstacles strikes at cruise speed - specifically looking for wreckage patterns and fuselage damage.
Any suggestions for sources????

[VeeAny]

Shawn

I apologise for not sending you the link I promised about 2 weeks ago, when I get home tomorrow I will send you the rest of it, but for now check your PMs i've sent you two links to what I have on the old server so it will be slow, but does work.

Gary

[Capt Hollywood]

These were on another PPRUNE thread somewhere I think.....

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n197/danodwyer/EC130/130wirestrike1-1.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n197/danodwyer/EC130/130wirestrike3.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n197/danodwyer/EC130/130wirestrike2.jpg

[ChopperFAN]

WOW... im supprised that ec130 made it back to earth right way up

Have you found pics of that Bo105 from South african police i think, the pics show the helicopter sitting from the wires and the transmission totally detached from the fuselage

Ill try and post some when i get home, i have a collection of accident shots but unsure of all their history

Simon

[SASless]

Shawn,

I googled "helicopter crash" and "wire strike" and got a lot of hits.....including some video of a Baja wire strike as it happened.:uhoh:

There are enough Bad Actors in my Anxiety Closet ( thank you Bloom County) without adding more of this kind!

[Brilliant Stuff]

I have got a Magazine here in front of me called "Waypoint" and in there is a report of a Czech Christoph 6 which is an EC135 T2 OK-BYC who had a bird strike on the 26th of July 2005. It it a small buzzard which came inot hte cabin on the pilots side.

Hope that helps.

[helonorth]

There was an article in Heli Ops magazine, issue 38, about wire
strikes. There were quite a few pictures.

[John Eacott]

These are all that I have with me of a low level fliming wirestrike that I had in 1988. Sort of walked away, but it didn't 'alf 'urt ;)

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/2321-1/Wire+strike+10a.jpg

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/2324-1/Wire+strike+11a.jpg

[TukTuk BoomBoom]

Faark, you were in that!
Thats a bad accident, bet the beer tasted good after that one!

I heard of wire strikes in 206s where the cable goes through the front window and doesnt stop until it gets past the broome closet
Duck!

[VfrpilotPB/2]

John at least you got it down on the skids.............!:ooh:

Peter R-B

[RVDT]

JE,
Made you a little late for your "10,000 hour" party as well didn't it?

[Overdrive]

Holy Sh... now that's what I call a bar room story!

[John Eacott]

I'll find the rest of the photos when I get back to Oz in a couple of weeks, there's one of the collective lying in two pieces where I pulled hard enough to snap it: amazing what adrenalin will do ;)

RVDT,

JB? Now looking at a few more hours, I'll invite you to the 15k instead :p

[SASless]

John Boy!

I bet your shirt got a bit wore with all the pilots pawing on you hoping some of your good luck would rub off on 'em!:)

One of the interesting things about wandering through the boneyard at the end of the runway at a place then known as Phu Loi....was looking at collectives....as many were crooked upwards where more was wanted after the up stops had been firmly hit. Amazingly many cyclics were bent as well...giving some hint as to who was at the sticks when they hit.

Adrenalin....semi-liquid, brown smelly stuff that collects in one's boots and gives one the strength of Superman!:ooh:

[BlenderPilot]

I googled "helicopter crash" and "wire strike" and got a lot of hits.....including some video of a Baja wire strike as it happened.

That Baja wirestrike was very famous because the guys renting the helicopter were high profile drug dealers sponsoring an American buggy they were following, after the crash the famous drug dealer's body was sitting in the morgue waiting to be ID but before it was, a group or armed gunmen came in to steal the body.

So you can see how one thing leads to another. Just like the Wild West but with helicopters.

[Blade Wake]

Yeah, the Baja crash was terrible. I remember also seeing the montage of three photos of a Gazelle splitting in two or three upon contact with wires, I think in former Yugoslavia?

[tomstheword]

Does anybody know of a helicopter with a wire strike kit fitted that has hit wires in a real situation and gotten away with it relativley unscathed?

[ThomasTheTankEngine]

I saw a photo of an R22 that had a wire strike some years ago on a Robinson safety course.

The aluminium strip down the centre of the wind screen bent in towards the passenger’s neck, luckily the cable snapped before it cut him.

I was told that the pilot walked round the machine, pushed the instrument panel forward and got the passenger to hold it in place with his foot and flew it back to base :ugh:

[D Mills]

Hi Shawn:
In Quebec City a Kiowa from the Cdn forces hit a large transmission line. The Kiowa was equipped with a wire cutter. It went from 110 K to 30 K instantly, but did cut the wire. The pilot landed the helicopter & of course there was a lot of damage to the roof of the machine. In the 80's & a military machine. You should be able to find a reference if you have a Cdn military contact or from Transport Canada. It happened to a machine based in Valcartier, North of Quebec City. If you can get info on this event it should be exactly what you want.
All the best Shawn
[email protected]
Dave Mills

[Fareastdriver]

I picked up a set of LT wires in Northern Ireland in the early seventies. Classic case, small valley, poles in the trees and the background was burnt gorse that camouflaged the black wires. I was flying a Puma 330C with metal blades and plain intakes and I also had a staff officer in the left hand seat, instead of another pilot, along for a jolly so I was doing all the cockpit work.

I saw the wires just before they went under the rotor disc. The first hit was the left hand windscreen which cracked but did not break. The wires then slid up the windscreen, disassembled the front fairing and snagged on the engine intakes. This slowed the aircraft quite considerable but it also stripped the insulation so the wires shorted and broke. One free end stripped a couple of pockets off a rotor blade and that was it. The engines had injested a boxful of fibreglass but being Turmo 3C4s that didn’t matter. Apart from a bit if a wumper there was no effect in the 10 seconds before I had the gear down and landed it.

After about three hours the rotor blade had been changed, all the loose bits had been pulled off and I flew it back to Adlergrove. They couldn’t nail me for anything. I was flying low level IAW SOPs but without a constituted crew.

Flying two feet lower I would have collected them with the pitch operating rods and suffered the same fate as the poor sods in Rhodesia a few years later.

[Pilot DAR]

Hi Shawn,

I spent a lot of time with a B206 C-FIPH in the mid 1980's, which later had a fatal wire strike. Perhaps you can dig up an accident report and photos. I do not have any, and heard ot was not a pretty sight. I did see the wreckage in storage up in Sudbury years later, really , only the belly pan and skids were there on the shelf, I think the rest was in a small box somewhere.

I was told that V.S., the pilot, took out one wire in the main Ontario Hydro transmission lines somewhere around Brockville, but fouled in the rest, as the machine had lost all of its energy. It was found by a Ontario Hydro helicopter crew, who were investigating the resulting power outage.

I do have a contact who might know more about it.

I hope that helps a little,

Pilot DAR

[Brilliant Stuff]

Sorry I misread the title I thought you meant Bird strikes.:ugh:

[ShyTorque]

There was a very interesting (!) report in Air Clues (IIRC) some twenty years ago about a British Army Lynx which snagged a cable across a Norwegian fiord with a skid and became "hung up" and eventually went inverted. The energy of the aircraft was absorbed relatively gently as it was such a long cable run. The pilot eventually manoeuvred the aircraft free, or rather it fell off the cable and it was recovered to the shore for a change of aircrew underclothing. No photos though.

I lost three colleagues to the 1979 Rhodesia wire strike accident (Archie Cook, Mike Smith, Bob Hodges) and an ex-instructor mate (Chas Chubb) in an Australian Chinook wire strike; Chas was on an Oz exchange tour. There was hardly anything left of the first; the biggest piece of the aircraft I saw photographed was an engine oil cooler.

[ChopperFAN]

Wow guys, some amazing stories

That 206L is totaled JE, how long was the drop? Amazing :D

Heres a link i found relating to a wire strike

Aircraft Accident Reconstruction - Case Study - Helicopter (http://www.consistentformulations.com/AirAccRecCS-27.htm)


Simon

[ChopperFAN]

Heres another...

http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2006/AAIR/pdf/aair200600523_001.pdf

Simon

[BJC]

Shawn I couldn't find any accident reports on the four CF wirestrikes I am familiar with but all landed safely thanks to the wire strike protection kits. One Kiowa, two Twin Hueys and a Griffon. As for damage - windshields cracked, OAT probes and antennas cleanly removed and all crew seat cushions needed replacing. The Kiowa was on approach, the others were in cruise. As good as the wirestrike kit is it apparently (second hand knowledge) doesn't cut barb wire strong across a valley at 1000'. It will however hold onto it nicely while the mast and rotor wind it in for you :eek:
I used to have a picture of that Twin Huey but couldn't find it for you.
I am a big fan of the wire strike protection kit after seeing it save a few friends.

[Sikorskyfan]

I vaguely remember a story about a Canadian Sea King that took out a high tension wire somewhere close to the Halifax Airport with its tail wheel. As a result the power was knocked out to a local lobster pound and somewhere in the neighbourhood of 200,000 dollars worth of lobster was ruined. Bet the Pilot had a lot of explaining to do?

[FairWeatherFlyer]

An example of how the fixed wing community deal with the issue :eek:

Power line crash leaves aircraft hanging around | Metro.co.uk (http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/article.html?in_article_id=270420&in_page_id=64&in_a_source=)

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2008/08b/PlaneGetty_450x512.jpg

[rotorboater]

The Baha one seriously happens fast

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VxrKUEhMuIE