Squirrel burnt out, Ceduna South Australia

[John Eacott]

Not much to go on so far:

ABC News (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-20/helicopter-crash-landing-fire/4080884)

Two men have escaped unhurt from a helicopter which crashed and caught fire, west of Ceduna in South Australia.

The pilot, 52, from West Lakes Shore in Adelaide, had attempted an emergency landing at Charra, 20 kilometres south of the Eyre Highway in the far west of SA, just before sunset on Tuesday.

Police said the man and his son, 23, from Victoria tried to put out the fire but then got clear before the entire craft erupted in flames.

The helicopter had refuelled and left Ceduna airport late in the afternoon.

About 45 minutes later, the pilot smelt smoke and made an emergency landing in a paddock about 80 kilometres west of Ceduna.

The six-seater Eurocopter had been valued at more than $1 million.

The men had been heading to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4081322-3x2-700x467.jpg

[Arm out the window]

Top reporting -

crashed and caught fire (ie it crashed for some reason and burnt)

pilot smelt smoke and made an emergency landing (it was on fire, was put down and the fire kept going).

Which one? Don't these guys think about what they're writing?

[alouette]

Either way, this Ecureuil is char broiled...

[topendtorque]

hmm, everyone likes to bag the R44 crashing and burning, but there seems to be a fair mob of these here eurocopter gadgets ending up as charred wrecks or just wrecks also, not counting those flown straight in.

[Arm out the window]

Yeah, the plastic fuel tank probably doesn't help.

[Ag-Rotor]

Counting the one rolling into fence at Bankstown this makes 3 of these French delights burning to a cinder recently.
Robinson owners have an impost of approx $18,000 per machine to modify their machines to have similar fuel tanks as those on spectacular display in this thread. Can't quiet see an added benifit in safety here, when the end result is still the same.

[canterbury crusader]

Ag-Rotor, I'm going to have a guess and say that it hasn't crashed (as reported) but landed, already on fire to some degree and continued to burn.

I'm basing this on the fact the blades all look pretty much straight and guess it has rolled/collapsed to one side as it burnt.

All wild assumptions of course but if correct means the bladder probably had nothing to do with it.

[John Eacott]

Update:

PORT Campbell helicopter pilot Barry Thompson and his son Scott were lucky to survive a fire which destroyed their $1 million helicopter near the Western Australia border.
The Thompsons where flying from Ceduna en route to Border Village, then Forrest and Kalgoorlie when they smelt smoke about 80 kilometres west of Ceduna late yesterday afternoon.

Scott Thompson said everything happened pretty quickly after they smelt smoke.

"We immediately decided to land as quickly as we could," he said.

"I poked my head out the door when we were half stopped, got hold of the fire extinguisher but the fire just got too big too quick.

"I said to Dad, get out. We grabbed a bag and ran from it. Then we watched it burn to the ground in the next five minutes."

Mr Thompson said he thought they landed close to a farm house but it turned out the home was seven or eight kilometres away.

"They picked us up while we were halfway to the place," he said.

"I've obviously never been involved in anything like that and Dad has been around helicopters for 18 years and never seen anything like it.

"I now know they burn pretty quick and when it's time to jump, you jump."

Mr Thompson said during the ordeal he never felt threatened.

"I didn't feel my life in danger at all. We just jumped out because it was on fire. It was lucky we weren't in our other helicopter because it's on av-gas and that burns 10 times faster," he said.

"It's all insured, they're worth too much not to be insured. We were just going for a leisurely flight. We got away a bit late and were on the way to Border Village, Forrest and then Kalgoorlie.

"We do a lot of contract jobs in the outback. I've been that way four times and Dad a heap of times."

Scott Thompson is the brother of AFL club Adelaide Crows backman Luke Thompson.

Police said Barry Thompson, 52, landed safety after he and his son Scott, 23, noticed a fire in the rear of the helicopter engine.

But, flames quickly engulfed the six-seater Eurocopter, destroying the craft.

Luke Thompson lists on the AFL official website that his favourite pastime is flying helicopters. Both Scott and Luke played football with the Timboon Demons and Barry was a club official.

The Warrnambool Standard (http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/port-campbell-pilot-and-son-escape-helicopter-fire/2597558.aspx)

[Bell_Flyer]

Ag-Rotor:
Counting the one rolling into fence at Bankstown this makes 3 of these French delights burning to a cinder recently.
Robinson owners have an impost of approx $18,000 per machine to modify their machines to have similar fuel tanks as those on spectacular display in this thread. Can't quiet see an added benifit in safety here, when the end result is still the same.

Errrr, wrong. It didn't hit the fence or rolled into the fence. Have a look at the 2 photos in this link. The fence is untouched by impact.

http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/451451-bankstown-burnt-helicopter.html

Also, AS350's don't have fuel bladders. The design is such that you can't put a fuel bladder into the tank - it is not made of sheet metal like Robinsons' tanks.

[TunaBum]

Ag-Rotor, I'm going to have a guess and say that it hasn't crashed (as reported) but landed, already on fire to some degree and continued to burn.

I'm basing this on the fact the blades all look pretty much straight and guess it has rolled/collapsed to one side as it burnt.

All wild assumptions of course but if correct means the bladder probably had nothing to do with it.


Spot on CC - sloppy re-fuel followed by inadequate clean-up. Fuel in baggage locker. Poof - no more helicopter...............

TB :E

[krypton_john]

What ignited the fuel? That stuff requires some heat to get it going.

[copterguy]

I agree, fuel just dosnt lite off by itself! Some kind of short? or maybe fuel leaking from the engine compartment. I've had sloppy refuel before but no fire associated with the next flight....

[Goody35]

Standard quote from a dear old friend RIP who managed our motor race team...his standard reply to the media after any driver crashed was "looks like an electrical problem" as in ...the engine exploded , the piston went through the side wall of the engine taking out a battery wire.... Electrical problem. The pilot flew the chopper into a mountain at 140knts , flying rotor debris cut through a fuse wire that disabled the starter motor :{.... electrical problem

[mzvraero]

was not 'sloppy' refueling! MY BROTHER was the one that refueled! he takes great car with his work. hes not a skacker. you tw*ats dont know what you's are on about. maybe get the correct facts before blaming innocent ppl! :mad:

[Ralis]

great *care*

[topendtorque]

Ceduna - Kalgoorlie, a fair step. Refuelling on the way was he? At night??

[John R81]

A few years back I did a fair few miles (20 minutes) in an EC120 that had developed a "strong smell of fuel". When landed, we found that about 7gal had escaped from the lower fuel bladder (due to over-tightened screws in the 2-part bar that supports the top of the fuel bladder against the underside of the cargo floor) and this was sloshing around inthe bottom of the ship.

Ashen faces, home by train. Bolocking for maintenace who "did not check" to find there is a correct torque setting for the screws and had over-tightened. Never been back to that maintenance provider since.

No "boom", though; in my pyrotechnic experience outside of helicopters it takes more than a spark to light cold kerosene. Usually it takes more than a match.

[topendtorque]

Usually it takes more than a match


And once lit burns hotter and is harder to extinguish than petrol, or so I was told when a little fella.

[Fantome]

was not 'sloppy' refueling! MY BROTHER was the one that refueled! he takes great car with his work. hes not a skacker. you tw*ats dont know what you's are on about. maybe get the correct facts before blaming innocent ppl!

No call to be so touchy cobber. Even had there been injury or death bro would not in the course of investigation strike any problem remaining free of implication if he is, as you imply, meticulous, consistent and credible.

( Very much an aside . . .if he is as sloppy in his writing as his bro he might then encounter some irrelevant prejudice.)

To bag everyone who has posted here so far shows you probably have trouble distinguishing between whose opinion is worth considering and whose is just waffle.


There are rotor-heads who come on here who have more hours in choppers and more insights of technical know-how than you or I have had . . . . . . (warmed up left-overs? knock-backs? looks over the abyss? )

So, again cobber. . . it does no one any good having knickers in a knot.

[TunaBum]

Ceduna - Kalgoorlie, a fair step. Refuelling on the way was he? At night??
Stop at Forrest before last light :ok:

mzvraero - sorry if my comment offended you or your brother. Perhaps "sloppy" was a sloppy description! As I understand it there was a blowback as fuel was being delivered under high pressure, and it sprayed around. I'm not trying to apportion blame - but is that a normal outcome of a well managed re-fuel?

TB:)