View Full Version : Blackwater Helicopter Crash in North Carolina
SASless
24th Feb 2009, 18:33
Radio news has reported a helicopter crash at the Blackwater business site near Moyock, North Carolina. No other details known at this time.
Blackwater Headquarters and training center is located at that location.
SASless
24th Feb 2009, 21:47
MD-369F Helicopter caught a skid, rolled over, killed the pilot and seriously injured second pilot. The aircraft owned by Presidential Airways (Blackwater owned company) was doing pilot training at the time.
FAA investigating the accident.
News link: Helicopter crash kills 1 at N.C. office of former Blackwater | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com (http://hamptonroads.com/node/499393)
heli-cal
25th Feb 2009, 06:44
Seems optimistic!
SASless
5th Mar 2009, 11:55
This link takes you to a news report that summarizes the preliminary accident report by the NTSB including information from the surviving pilot.
The MD-530 helicopter with two pilots aboard was conductiing tactical training at the Blackwater Training Facility when it crashed. The Instructor Pilot was killed in the crash.
The Pilot being trained reported to investigators the tip of a skid had gotten hung under a railing located on a "Ship Simulator" training device made up of Shipping Containers and the aircraft rolled over during an attempted takeoff from a "single skid" landing.
It sounds like a case of dynamic rollover caused by the one skid being trapped under the obstruction during take off.
Student pilot describes deadly crash (http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/LOCAL_WAVY_xe_helo_crash_20090304)