Incident at Ardmore

[Akutan]

For Stuff.co.nz news

LATEST: A light helicopter which crashed at Ardmore Airport in south Auckland today may be a write-off.

The helicopter, believed to be a near-new Schweizer 300 (also known as a Hughes 300) crashed about 10am and two people on board were slightly hurt.
The aircraft was believed to be part of a helicopter flying training school based at Ardmore.

Sources told NZPA it was unlikely to fly again.

It was thought to be owned by Helicopter Flight Training but no one from the company was available to talk about the incident.

The company has said it is New Zealand's newest helicopter training establishment, and catered for all levels of training from private to commercial licences through to instructor ratings.

It said it operated a fleet of modern Schweizer 300CBi training helicopters maintained to the highest possible standard.

The first helicopter of its new fleet arrived in November last year.

[DBChopper]

How are the two injured people?

[TukTuk BoomBoom]

Apparently only minor injuries from what i saw on the internet
I remember some years ago talking to a very experienced ex mustering pilot about how the helicopters they used had changed over the years. He said that in the R22 had put alot of people in hospital from accidents that would have been minor in a B47 or H300.

[Ned-Air2Air]

Talking about accidents one of the worst I had seen in a training helo was Kelvin Stark and a student in a Bell 47 that had an engine failure over some of the buildings where Marine Helicopters old offices used to be at Ardmore. They landed in a heap about where NZ Warbirds hangar is now. How anyone got out of that mangled wreck amazed me. Unfortunately the Austrian or Swiss student was banged up pretty bad but at least he survived and Kelvin recovered and went on to fly for many more years before being lost at Sea in the PAC 750 that ditched off Hawaii (RIP Kelvin)

Had that been a 300 or R22 I would doubt they would have survived at all. Just testament to the design of the 47.

[Benjamin James]

Had that been a 300 or R22 I would doubt they would have survived at all. Just testament to the design of the 47.


OR

If that had been a 300 or 22, it may not have suffered an engine failure and the accident would never have happened :}

[Ned-Air2Air]

BJ - From what I remember I dont think it was an engine failure, was some sort of mechanical failure. But might be wrong. Will see if I can find out.

Was referring to the actual state of the wreckage after the accident and where it ended up.

Ned

[Benjamin James]

Not a worry Ned. I was just pointing out the problem with if's :ok:

[nuthin]

I heard it was a stuck throttle and then an engine failure 10' off the ground?
Can anyone confirm that?

After instructing in R22s H300s and BH47s I would prefer the 47 over the others
Its a shame the costs of running them are going ground the few still flying.
The R44 would probably be my second choice for running emergencies in all day.