The magic 13 seconds in a 530F

[GeorgeMandes]

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Vegas police helicopter makes emergency landing

The Associated Press
Posted: 08/13/2009 04:16:28 PM PDT

LAS VEGAS—A police helicopter made an emergency landing on Las Vegas streets after its engine failed.
Las Vegas police say two crew members were on board on routine patrol Wednesday. Both were unhurt.
Lt. Joe Ojeda says the pilot and the observer pilot saw an engine failure light come on. The light signals there are 13 seconds to safely land the helicopter, a McDonnell Douglas 530FF.
Ojeda says the pilot was good and lucky to avoid colliding with vehicles on the road.
Mechanics fixed the problem on site and the helicopter lifted off again less than two hours later.

[mfriskel]

That is just how good our technology is today- we have a light that tells us land in 13 seconds or you'll be sorry! Or is it just how STUPID our news feeds are? I don't know why anyone even watches TV news or reads newspapers any more.

[Ned-Air2Air]

Hey George & Mark,

You ever had the 13 second light come on :ok::ok:

[atakacs]

Anyonw knows what really happened ?

Did they perform an auto rotation ?

[PANews]

Another news report states [suggests?] that there was a fuel feed problem to the engine [RR250] and that they auto-rotated to ground [in 13 seconds!]. It was mended on site and the 530 flew out.

It seems likely that this 13 seconds bit is that they [the Vegas Police] fly so low that the average time to ground in an auto is that sort of time lapse - rather than the suggestion that all aircraft have that sort of time left till they hit the deck.