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Hawkeye0001
24th May 2010, 01:30
A german FH1100 crashed on sunday 16:30 local time into woods near the town of Saalfeld. All 4 occupants were killed in the accident.
According to a local newspaper and eyewitnesses the helicopter executed a turn and started sinking throughout the maneuver and eventually fell like a rock from an altitude of approximately 150ft. It crashed into a plowed crop field on the corner of a wood. The newspaper report states that there were no apparent signs of a rotor strike on the soil of the field.
The cause for the accident is yet to be determined.

Sources:
Local Newspaper (http://www.otz.de/startseite/detail/-/specific/Vier-Tote-bei-Hubschrauberabsturz-bei-Schleiz-1019834791)
"Der Spiegel" (http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,696414,00.html)
eivissa
24th May 2010, 09:16
Rumours say that there was no fuel to be found on the accident site...

Pilot seems to have been a PPL who recently bought the aircraft.
RobertMB
24th May 2010, 10:19
It was a Fairchil-Hiller FH-1100.
See report at URL: ASN Aircraft accident 23-MAY-2010 Fairchild-Hiller FH-1100 N8672 (http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=74452)

BR,

Robert
skadi
27th May 2010, 07:15
According to a statement of the leader of the investgation team, focus is on the fuel. There were only 2 liters fuel left in the undestroyed tanks .

skadi
tecpilot
27th May 2010, 11:10
After looking over some better pics of the wreckage i couldn't believe in an undestroyed fuel cell. It took off only a couple of minutes before. The pilot was not unexperienced but very fresh on the FH 1100. He got the ship 4 weeks before and it was his third pax flight with it. It was his own heli spot. No other pilot have flown the helicopter. Difficult to imagine, that he lifted off with an nearly complete empty fuel tank. But not impossible, sure.

I bet the ship came down upside down like a stone. There is no slip track on the ground and no sign for a turn over. Just a flat mass of bended metal. But the skid is unbroken. According to eye witnesses the helicopter tumbled in the air.

What ever reason, a complete loss of control. Mysterious, the FH 1100 is good for an safe autorotation if the reason was really engine trouble. There must be more than a simple engine failure.
nutmix
11th Jun 2010, 04:19
The structure around the fuel tank, which is a bladder tank, is the strongest part of the airframe so it is conceivable that it is in one piece. Also if there is little fuel in the tank, it is less susceptible to damage as there is no mass of fluid to damage it. In any case, it is very sad for all involved.