Blue Mountains NSW crash Oct 9 2010 9am

[WG99]

Six lucky people who didn't make the Bathurst 1000 Races, to sit in their Jack Daniels Corporate Box. Low cloud, light rain was the report. 2.5k off the road.
How lucky to have 3 mountain bike-riders come to your rescue, and have a camera handy to give an on-ground photo to the Sydney Morning Herald?
Crash picture looks a bit like a Squirrel to me. Tail was reportedly in a tree nearby.
Another plus for helicopters, that it's forward speed that kills (mostly).
Congratulations to the pilot for coping with 5 passengers with destination on their minds. I had a belligerent, burly bloke once drinking a six-pack, throwing empty cans out the window (over bushland). How do you pick 'em?

http://images.smh.com.au/2010/10/10/1977025/1_chopper2-420x0.jpg
Six men on their way to the Bathurst 1000 race are lucky to be alive after their helicopter ditched in bushland in the Blue Mountains this morning.
Police, paramedics and fire crews were called to the Oaks fire trail near Woodford shortly before 9am after the chopper crashed in misty conditions near the track popular with mountain bike riders.
Two of the passengers have been airlifted to Westmead Hospital with head injuries.The first man on the scene, mountain biker Peter Hales, said he and his two fellow riders were surprised to find the pilot and five passengers alive when they came across the crash site.
http://images.smh.com.au/2010/10/10/1977288/crash2-420x0.jpg
‘‘When we saw it and we worked out what had actually happened, we were expecting dead people,’’ Mr Hales told smh.com.au.
‘‘The tail was still hanging up in a tree, that had broken off completely.
‘‘The cabin was basically upside down, the doors were smashed up ... it was just so surreal, we certainly didn’t expect to see that.
‘‘It took a while to take in what was happening.’’
Mr Hales said the men, dressed in Jack Daniels clothing, were on their way to watch the Bathurst 1000 car race from a corporate box.
He and his riding companions had just stopped for a break at the Woodford end of the trail before starting their return trip.
About two and a half kilometres down the track, they saw branches littering the trail which had not been there when they rode past earlier.
‘‘We came around the corner and saw big branches on the ground. Then we saw people. At first I thought it was National Parks (staff) doing some cutting down of trees. Then it dawned on us what was happening,’’ Mr Hales said.
He said two men were lying on the ground, one bleeding from a gash under his chin, while another man’s jeans had been ripped in the crash.
Two men, aged in their 30s, had to be winched out and were flown by ambulance helicopter to Westmead Hospital, both suffering head injuries. Their conditions are stable and their injuries are not serious, an Ambulance NSW spokesman said.
The other four men were taken by ambulance to Nepean Hospital. The pilot, in his 40s, suffered an elbow injury, while two men in their 20s were treated for multiple cuts and abrasions.
A 39-year-old man was also treated for minor injuries.
The Australian Transportation Safety Bureau will investigate the cause of the crash.

[The Pheonix]

A bit more info from news.ninemsn.com.au:

Six men who survived a helicopter crash in the NSW Blue Mountains are in a stable condition and receiving hospital treatment.
The aircraft ditched in bushland southwest of Woodford about 9am (AEDT) on Sunday morning, coming to rest near the Oaks Fire Trail.
Despite the nature of the incident the pilot and five passengers escaped relatively unscathed.
Two passengers, both in their 30s, suffered head injuries and were airlifted to Westmead Hospital.
An Ambulance Service of NSW statement said both men were stable and their injuries not serious.
The pilot, in his 40s, suffered an elbow injury.
Two passengers in their 20s suffered cuts and bruises while a sixth man, aged 39, suffered minor injuries. All four were taken to Nepean Hospital.
An investigation is now under way to establish how the chopper crashed.
Weather conditions on Sunday morning were said to consist of low cloud and light rain.
Fire brigade officers were working at the crash scene, which is said to be accessible only by air or by four-wheel drive vehicle, to remove fuel which spilled during the accident.
Mountain biker Peter Hales has described how he and some fellow riders came across the crash site, on the Oaks Fire Trail.
"When we saw it and we worked out what had actually happened, we were expecting dead people," he told the Sydney Morning Herald's website, smh.com.au.
"The tail was still hanging up in a tree, that had broken off completely.
"The cabin was basically upside down, the doors were smashed up ... it was just so surreal, we certainly didn't expect to see that.
"It took a while to take in what was happening."
He said all six male survivors were dressed in Jack Daniel's branded clothing and believed to be on their way to the Bathurst 1000 Supercar race when the chopper crashed.
A spokesman for the Jack Daniel's Racing team, competing at Bathurst, had no information about the crash.

http://images.smh.com.au/2010/10/10/1977025/1_chopper2-420x0.jpg
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Having flown a little Robbie R22 over that area some time ago, it's one of the last places I would want to have to put down in a hurry!:eek:

Great to hear everyone survived.:D

[WG99]

Hi Phoenix ... nice to be new! Welcome, and thanks for your comments; you get knocked around a bit on forums but hang in there.

Not sure who owns it, or what make.
Would be hard to find an R22 in that area?

I was based at Bankstown and my religion would become very strong when flying over that tiger country, renowned for early fog and low cloud. Always had 2 pairs of sox, 2 pairs of gloves, a scarf, space blanket and boots, for survival back then prior to carrying an EPIRB.

Coming back to BK from Bathurst Air Show (in the 70s) it took me three days of attempts, sleeping on the aerodrome in my Bell 47J2A (comfortable bench seat). Finally made it following the railway line until it went in a tunnel, then climbed above 5,000ft (my sin, in those Below5 days), arriving BK 7.30am asking my LAME for a scotch (never drank the stuff, usually).

Good luck with your flying, Pheonix.

[catseye]

Channel 10 news reports no substantial major injuries and a few talking heads on Camera.
BK117 winching reported on the tele. Onya Muzz

Burragorang claims another one....

The Eye.

[RVDT]

Been in the same situation with the Bathurst thing.

Its more interesting when the pax have had a few and are on the way back. Having flown up there on a daily basis for a couple of years in all sorts of crap, that is definitely not the way over the Blue Mountains. The road to Katoomba has a gentle climb. Google Earth the area with the terrain elevation set to max and it is pretty obvious which way to go.

Track Warragamba Dam, look out for the transmission line at about 10 kms from the dam at about 450' above the water, up Lake Burragorang to the Cox River and it will bring you out just shy of Lithgow. The Fish river will then take you all the way to Bathurst. There are numerous places to land and with the easterly on the day it would have definitely been brighter on the other side.

The transmission lines claimed Mad Max Director Byron Kennedy back in 1983 in a B206. The towers are painted green from memory and I doubt that more than 20 people a year would ever look at them considering where they are - go figure!

The trees in Australia look green but have a consistency somewhere between concrete and steel!

[Squeaks]

That's certainly a better route: but the Blue Mountains can be a pig to choose at times!

Apparently the AS350 was from Sydney Helicopters, RH driving. Glad the injuries were relatively minor.

http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2010/10/10/1225936/707981-chopper-crash.jpg

[Heliringer]

The passenger speaking on Channel 7 news said that they were flying in cloud or mist and then struck the trees. IMC claims another VFR helicopter. Or should I say Commercial pressure claims another Helicopter!

At least everyone is sort of OK

[Ned-Air2Air]

I was up at Skyline on Mt Panorama at that time shooting the V8 Utes and weather quite frankly sucked as we had a few showers come through and looking back towards Sydney it looked harsh. :sad:

Glad to see they all survived which is great. Was chatting with Nick from Kelly Racing who knew all the guys on the helo as they were guests of their sponsor and were going to hang out in the corporate hospitality for the day, sad to see it end that way.

But like I said at least they all survived, banged up maybe but alive.

[captpugwash]

Congratulations to the pilot for coping with 5 passengers with destination on their minds.:ok:

WG99 yes the pilot sure did a great job...;)

[heliduck]

Congratulations to the Pax for surviving with a pilot who maybe had the destination on his mind? I know, I'm a smart a@#e.

Lots of us have flown in some terrible conditions due to commercial pressures &/or bad decision making, some of us have gotten away with it & some haven't. I am so happy for the pilot of this machine as he & his Pax have "walked" away from what could have been fatal for all involved. I'm sure the pilot doesn't feel very lucky right now, but with some support from his friends & colleagues hopefully he'll become a very good decision maker after this incident. Although the buck stops with the pilot to identify hazards & prevent accidents, every incident/accident has a number of factors which contribute to the event taking place & maybe the pilots decision making was a minor contributor?

[whopwhop]

Nicely worded Heliduck.

[LongLine]

To start with I am not singling out or picking on the Pilot involved here, but more directly the whole industry in general, so I hope he does not take what I say to badly, but this needs to be said.
Why is the pilot involved coming out of this accident shining like a hero? And why did he do a so called "such a great job"?
The facts are he crashed a helicopter full of passengers destroying it, in I understand bad weather, and nearly killing all his Pax and himself.
From the report and the pictures I see it as a disaster, and very much all luck! Lucky anyone got out of this alive at all! It was defiantly not from the pilot’s skills or smart thinking.
He obviously was out of his dept with his ability, experiance and decision making or all the above, he made some very bad decisions along the way to end up where he and helicopter full of pax are now.
Commercial pressure? yes there is always commercial pressure in every job from time to time, it is a commercial pilots responsibility and his job to deal with that, it is nobody else fault, he is not a victim, he screwed up very badly,dont pat him on the back just understand what happened and don’t let it happen to you.
Newer generation pilots and over confidant pilots in general with little experience should really take a step back and look at this,
Also learn to take full responsibity for their actions and decision making, if you know you should not be there don’t go there, get out!!!!And know your limitations.

[R.OCKAPE]

has the CASA report been concluded and published ?

if not why not wait till it has and then start throwing stones from your glass house

[LongLine]

Ah r.ockape I for one sure don’t live in a glass house if that is what you are insinuating, just stating the facts as I see it, sorry if it upset you, what did the motor stop!!!! Or the tail fall off???? Doesn’t take much to see what happened here.

[jetgas]

LongLine , I think heliduck coments are fair.
But how does making one bad call reflect on this pilots ability & experiance , to the point of being obvious ?

[LongLine]

As I see it he made more than just one bad call,

That is why the helicopter in the picture looks the way it does,

At some stage along that trip, and I would bet a lot more than just once, he was worried and knew himself he should not be there and had a lot more than one chance to turn around or go some there else. But he didn’t why? Ignarence, experiance, over inflated ability? not handling customer presure? or all of these, i cant answer for sure that one , but i know for sure he did it.

So that is why I said that, obviously he did not have the ability to handle the weather or the situation he got into, be it by his ability or experience or both.

[Ag-Rotor]

Well said LongLine, no matter how hard they try they can't sugar coat this one.
Another question that should be asked, is why the Mountain bikers were the first to raise the alarm, did the guys he was in convoy with just fly away without any concern as to how he got on ???

[topendtorque]

designated remote area??

ELT, must have been blowing the ears of the Canberra SAR operators?????? only just over the hill.

[Ag-Rotor]

Maybe the ELT was located in the tail and as it didn't make it to the ground, it thought it was okay, just some turbulance :D

[Ab Initio]

Re comment above about tragic death of Mad Max director Byron Kennedy in 1983. From ATSB report it seems power lines were not the cause.

"Bell 206B, VH-KMX, Lake Burragorang NSW, 17 July 1983
Investigation Number:198301307
The helicopter was being flown along a watercourse at a height of about 10 ft and an airspeed of about 85 kt. As the pilot rotated the aircraft to commence a climb the rear of the landing skids struck the water. The helicopter pitched forward, overturned and sank. The water surface at the time of the accident was smooth and glassy. The judgement of height above such a surface is difficult. The inexperienced pilot was apparently aware of these difficulties, however, on this occasion misjudged the height of the helicopter above the water as he selected the climb attitude."

I remember reading at the time how Kennedy's teenage passenger pulled him ashore where they huddled until rescue next morning. The passenger had spelt out an SOS using rocks. Unfortunately Kennedy succumbed to his injuries and/or hypothermia during the night. So sad.

Keep safe everyone.

[Nigel Osborn]

I find this accident report very strange. I can't see a 206 having the stick pulled back to climb at 85 kts, would have the rear of the skids dig into the water so hard that the 206 tumbled over. Now maybe if the tail rotor had gone hard into the water, that would cause a problem. I wonder where they got the speed & height facts from, the pax?

[Ascend Charlie]

From speaking to the kid involved, and flying him back to the scene of the accident, I gathered that the kid had been flying at the time, but changed the story. Byron went out through the front window, the cyclic tore out his boy-bits and bleeding badly was one reason he didn't survive.
yes, the water was glassy, yes, they were too low. Suspect that the "rotate to climb away" was horsefeathers.:eek:

[helispotter]

This thread doesn't seem to have ever listed or discussed the ATSB report into this accident, which was completed in December 2011. I can't post a web link directly on the forum, but that accident investigation was A0-2010-076 and related to the Collision with terrain of Eurocopter AS350B VH-ROU 67km west of Sydney Airport on 10 October 2010 (as opposed to 9 October 2010 heading used to start this thread by WG99).

https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2010/aair/ao-2010-076/

As I am not a pilot, let alone a helicopter pilot, I should probably remain quiet other than to encourage line pilots read this report.

[Ascend Charlie]

Yeah, the report calls it collision with terrain, but doesn't really include the title "pilot flew into IMC and lost control and (then) collided with terrain." One of 3 incidents from this operator in a short span of time, one of them in similar circumstances which was fatal.