Two dead in Houston helicopter crash

[Carbon Bootprint]

An R-22 crashed in northeast Houston, Texas on Monday, killing both persons aboard.

Story here (http://www.khou.com/home/Helicopter-crashes-in-northeast-Harris-County-169225186.html)

HOUSTON— Two people were killed Monday after a helicopter crashed in northeast Harris County, Harris County Sheriff’s Department said.
It happened at about 3:30 p.m. just feet from Highway 90. The R-22 Robinson Helicopter was heading to Hooks Airport from Baytown when witnesses said it went into a tailspin and crashed to the ground.
The helicopter exploded shortly after impact, killing the male pilot and his female passenger.
Good Samaritans tried to get to the man and woman and extinguish the flames but they could not.
“I’m sorry. Tried my best but there wasn’t anything else I could do,” said Jose Escamilla.
The three eyewitnesses could not put out the flames. They used fire extinguishers rushed to the crash site by employees of the pipe yard where the chopper came down.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers secured the location and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were examining the wreckage.

http://media.khou.com/images/helicopter-crash-harris-cou.jpg

http://media.khou.com/images/chopper-crash-homevideo.jpg

[Gordy]

Upright with the blades seemingly in-tact...

Discuss..... For the purpose of education....

[topendtorque]

Discuss..... For the purpose of education.... Thank you sir.

Blades yes, intact - upright and not showing signs of over pitching. That does not mean they were not very close to that number.

These R22's can fall fast enough before actual blade stall to be very seriously injurious to occupants.

Other eyewitness reports, I would go straight to the forward short shaft, couplings and or flex plate assy's first. It could be that a flailing short shaft may have ruptured a fuel tank (has happened years ago over here) which spilt toward hot engine upon arrival at ground.

It would be hard to correlate a spinning aircraft with belt failure, simple engine failure or other driven / driving restriction and still have blades thus at arrival.

Praise for the pilot also for putting it down upright in a confusing situation, sorry it didn't turn out better.

High praise also for the people on the ground, to just run forward instead of backward takes courage for starters and to be clear headed about a rescue is most worthy.

Condolences to family and those affected by this.

tet

[toptobottom]

TR failure? Could this have been another survivable if it wasn't for the Robbie fire ball? Investigators should get to the cause within minutes..

[Helinut]

RIP.

It does seem as though the pilot did well to get it down in one piece in an obstruction free area.

From the photos, I could not see whether the TR was intact. Can anyone advise?

A failure of the main drive could lead to a shaft whipping around close to the tanks, which could account for the fuel fire. There does not seem to be much debris left in the area of the tanks.

[Vertical Freedom]

RIP fellow Rotorheads

the Crapinson Flimsicopter kills again (& again & again & again) :{:yuk::yuk::yuk::{

[anti-talk]

Photo Flight Scenario

OGE hover, just fueled, LTE or SWP (Vortex Ring), full left Pedal droop Rotor, collective droop rotor further incresased rotation - very hard vertical impact with little or no forward speed, back injuries incapacitating occupants, post crash fire killing both people

or

TR failure (Drive) ruptured fuel tank, fire was post crash thought

Sad either way and a horrible way to go

RIP - thoughts are with family and friends

[topendtorque]

Could this have been another survivablealready discussed

if it wasn't for the Robbie fire ball?Cannot at all abide with this comment for the R22. In casting my mind back I can think of one where it is still being debated, another where it definitely was a forward flex plate failure and ignited before touchdown. I cannot recall any where an R22 aircraft has arrived still with blades in such condition. In fact their fuel tank integrity in a write off is usually very high, fuel leakage occurring from broken carburetor and or the line from the airframe filter onwards only.


Investigators should get to the cause within minutes.most definitely..

[toptobottom]

tet:
Blades yes, intact - upright and not showing signs of over pitching
What signs would you expect to see?

[HeliHenri]

What to think about this one few months ago ? (fortunately with a much more happy ending) : BBC News - Two injured in helicopter crash near Lake Vyrnwy, Powys (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-16582421)
.

[topendtorque]

Blades yes, intact - upright and not showing signs of over pitching What signs would you expect to seeYes, an acute bend upwards at around up to one third the distance along the blade from the inboard end, caused by blade structure being unable to cope with drag vector in the stalled and rapidly descending mode (induced by no lift). Like breaking your elbow the wrong way, it will go with a snap. The Robinson safety course has a terrible video of this event in a R44. The blades stop rotating very quickly and if at altitude fold upwards as aircraft descends vertically. Pundits suggest anything below 82 to 85 % RRPM is liable to fail as such.This is why the collective must be monitored at all times as the primary control.

Heli Henri's picture is reasonably symbolic.but could have been from vertical downward forces.

[toptobottom]

The symptoms you've described are a consequence of too low RRPM, not necessarily over-pitching (which agreed, could cause too low RRPM). The pilot could have over-pitched, but that wouldn't necessarily result in catastrophic failure of the MR blades.

[topendtorque]

The pilot could have over-pitched, but that wouldn't necessarily result in catastrophic failure of the MR blades.

Very true, however when the ground is looming they are often seen as coupled,
but as I explained above
That does not mean they were not very close to that number.

Perhaps I could have said;- "not yet failed because of over pitching." which gives a thoroughly good indication R of D at that time.He may well have been forced into that situation had he no room in front, no drive to the M/R and run out of forward airspeed at an uncomfortable height?
R of D of course increases without effective recovery, like the back end of a J curve until stall occurs where almost simultaneously one might expect the blade failure and then the R of D to resemble a mach number.

Mustering pilots over pitch every second hour of the day sometimes, they like everyone are supposed to be taught to recognize and recover from it before catastrophic low RRPM. Most stagger away recovering, a rare few continue to manage the situation (recalcitrant cows) in hand as well as recovering.
cheers tet

[MartinCh]

Nick Alexeev (https://www.facebook.com/nalexeev) · Subscribe (https://www.facebook.com/plugins/comments.php?api_key=245371802196100&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2F xd_arbiter.php%3Fversion%3D11%23cb%3Df3ca509c34a1e6e%26origi n%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.khou.com%252Ff106b2ab5ce069e%26do main%3Dwww.khou.com%26relation%3Dparent.parent&href=www.khou.com%2Fhome%2FHelicopter-crashes-in-northeast-Harris-County-169225186.html&locale=en_US&numposts=15&sdk=joey&width=470#) · Top Commenterthe helicopter was making circles around our facility, then it flipped on the side over Xtreme Pipe Services property and collapsed....
(making circles - > photo flight?, copied from the newspaper website comments)

[anti-talk]

Hmm so and explanation could be

Slow low level right orbits, heavy - classic LTE / Over Pitching Scenario

[[email protected]]

I reckon you have it absolutely right anti-talk - the compacted skids and intact blades are symptomatic of a very heavy but vertical impact with low Nr.

[Helinut]

Right hand orbits and door on for photo flights?

If it was "proper photography", you might at least expect LH orbit and/or door off

[stringfellow]

Hard to be certain but the smoke suggests they were possibly downwind too.

[Gordy]

Initial NTSB report (http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20120910X05133&key=1)

NTSB Identification: CEN12FA621
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Monday, September 10, 2012 in Houston, TX
Aircraft: ROBINSON HELICOPTER R22 BETA, registration: N281RG
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.

On September 10, 2012, at 1545 central daylight time, N281RG, a Robinson R22 Beta, was substantially damaged when it impacted a dirt service road in a steel pipe storage yard in Houston, Texas. The commercial pilot and the passenger were fatally injured. The helicopter was registered to and operated by Helicopter Services, Incorporated, Spring, Texas. No flight plan was filed for the aerial photo flight that departed Baytown Airport (HPY), Baytown, Texas, approximately 1345. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight that was conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulation Part 91.

The helicopter departed David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport (DWH), Houston, Texas, about 1300, and flew to Baytown where the pilot purchased 22.9 gallons of fuel at 1329. Around 1345, the pilot and the passenger departed and were observed about two hours later by several witnesses maneuvering over the steel pipe yard in south-east Houston.

A witness was driving west on Highway 90 toward the beltway when he first observed the helicopter. He said it was about a mile away and at first he thought it was a remote controlled helicopter. The witness said the helicopter was “way up there” and estimated that is was approximately 400-500 feet above the ground. The helicopter was spinning slowly around the main rotor shaft and was descending straight down vertically about 70-80 miles per hour. There was no smoke or parts coming off the helicopter as it descended. The main rotor blades were turning "slower than expected" and were not deflected upwards. The tail rotor did not appear to be turning. The helicopter then impacted the ground resulting in a large dust cloud. The witness stopped his vehicle and proceeded to run towards to the helicopter. After he negotiated a chain link fence, he and another witness used fire extinguishers to contain the post-impact fire until the fire department arrived.

Another witness was driving east on Highway 90 toward the Beltway when he first observed the helicopter about a mile away. It was 70 to 100 feet-above the ground and was slowly spinning counter clockwise around the main rotor shaft and was in a slow vertical descent. It seemed like it was in “slow-motion.” When the helicopter was approximately 40 to 50 feet above the ground, its descent rate increased rapidly before it impacted the ground. The witness thought the pilot was trying to land and he did not observe any smoke coming from the helicopter. He noted that the main rotor blades were turning “pretty slow” and it seemed “like he lost power.” The body of the helicopter was level and the main rotor blades were not deflected upwards. The witness could not hear the helicopter prior to the impact, which occurred just as he was stepping out of his vehicle. After the impact, he observed a large dust plume as he was running to the steel yard. As he was trying to crawl under a chain link fence he saw a fireball coming from the helicopter. He and another responder used fire extinguishers to contain the post-impact fire until the fire department arrived.

The helicopter came to rest upright on a heading of 195 degrees magnetic on a dirt road located in the steel pipe storage yard. The entire helicopter was accounted for at the site and the fuselage was consumed by post-impact fire. The skids were spread and level with the belly of the fuselage. The body of the helicopter was listed to the right. The helicopter was moved to a secure storage facility for further examination.

The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate for rotorcraft-helicopter. His last Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) First Class medical was issued on December 16, 2011. The pilot had applied to attend the Robinson Pilot Safety Course a week before the accident. According to his application, he reported a total of 740 hours, of which 600 hours were in the R22B.

Weather reported at Ellington Field (EFD), Houston, Texas, approximately 16 miles southwest of the accident site, at 1550, was wind 130 degrees at 8 knots, visibility 10 miles, scattered clouds at 8,000 feet, temperature 93 degrees F, dewpoint 62 degrees F, and an altimeter setting of 30.02 inches HG.

Index for Sep2012 | Index of months

[toptobottom]

I don't attach a huge amount of value to uneducated witness statements and I don't like jumping to conclusions, but this has all the hallmarks of VRS, particularly if on a low 'n' slow 'aerial photo flight'..?

[Heli-Jock]

Anti - Talk,
Couple your theory, after getting in to "Vortex Ring State" or "Settling with power" as they say in the States and you will not be to far away!

Hot, Heavy and Low! :ugh:

[Torquetalk]

Bet you a pound to a penny that it was over-pitching (slow, anti-clockwise turn; blades seeming to turn slowly) and not VRS/Settling.

TT

[topendtorque]

A strange kettle of fish and different altogether from the first assumption of a straight and level flight gone wrong.

Now that maneuver is mighty strange but very easy to recover from, just ease forth on the direction meter and up on the feed stick and hey presto, very quickly there is A/S and much less ROD.

Just for something to do while waiting for the ol' bovines to do their bit this arvo i had a go at simulating the description of the two witnesses. I did it in two ways
1) a vertical low power descent with anti-clockwise turn induced with left pedal then centered pedals, it kept rotating and
2) a low power way out of balance slow speed turn (less than 20 knots) to the left with pedals centered.
Power each time around 13" or a bit less, just myself on board (92 kg's) and 80 litres of fuel but a hot afternoon, around 39 degrees Celsius..

In each case recovery was quick and easy, but in both cases more left pedal than was needed seemed to set up a fast even out of control rotation, easily recovered with half right pedal, and or forward cyclic. ROD was at most around 1750 FPM.

As soon as the collective was pulled the anti-clockwise turn ceased abruptly, which I guess is why there is no skewing on the ground spoken about with this accident.

The slowest RRPM I went to was my usual bottom line at 90%.

I think that casual observers suggesting a slow RRPM is a bit far fetched, it's one thing for us guys after thousands of hours picking up a pupe from some distance away in a second helicopter for dropping his RRPM a bit when the pupe is in 47's, but it's entirely another for anyone to discern a fairly slow R22 rotor that is is still flying. I wouldn't pull on that sort of judgement, even the difference between 90 and 110 % is hard to judge by looks, different story with sound though especially an over-speed in an auto.

It may seem there was nothing wrong with the machine, even a T/R failure simulated with three quarter to full right pedal (for clockwise rotation) from around translation or just above, was flown out of easily at around 35 to 40 knots after about one turn with the cyclic forward.

T/R failure from a high hover we used to get weather cocking after one and half turns with , throttle off, collective down and cyclic forward.

Maybe others may wish to try the above steps with a heavier loading on a warm day, but be careful with a bit too much left pedal, the rotation and ROD might get a bit spooky, neither of which was referred to as exceptional by the witnesses.

I would agree with the three previous post as possibles, get a bit of recirculating air and pulled himself into VRS just at the wrong time, or alternatively was descending too low and tried to arrest it too late and over pitched into the ground just before blade stall. Each scenario could give a discerned high ROD for a short time but the VRS one may tend to be more noticeable I think
.( but then an over pitch would have given the slow speed RRPM which the witnesses may remember as being all the time but in fact was impinged on their memory as the last unnatural thing and other emotions may have overtaken their prior recall capacity)

I wonder how old was the pilot, did it have duals and possibly a problem with something lodged into the pedals or collective. 600 hours is not a lot of hours to sort problems, depending on his background, or did he cop an impairment to drive the whole scene, we may never know. I doubt there was a problem with the T/R drive though as if there was a T/R failure surely we would be talking about a clockwise rotation.

cheers tet