rotornut

Toronto News: ORNGE aborts emergency call as chopper door flies open midflight - thestar.com

SASless

I would call it a "Precautionary Landing".

Seems a bit odd the Guvmint had to inspect and release the aircraft before the Operator could do anything with it.

I would think a good check by Company Engineers....confirm no damage done...then fly the aircraft back to the base for repairs.

HeliHenri

Hello SASless, "Precautionary Landing" ?!! With the door opening during flight and the window of the door missing ...

Winnie

I tend to agree with SASless.

A door open is not immediately life threathening, when more than likely everybody onboard the machine where using their seatbelts...

Precautionary landing to close the door, then head back to the barn to get it looked at seems right to me too.

Cheers
H.

HeliHenri

Hello Winnie, I see your point, thank's.

SASless

Yes....Precautionary.

An open door in and of itself is not what i consider to be an "Emergency" situation. The fact the window in the door disappeared....does not in itself add urgency to the situation.

If there had been any other indication of a problem....sudden onset of vibrations, control feedback, unusual sounds from the rotor system, change in Main rotor track or appearance.....yes then....there would have been some urgency to the landing.

The crew did absolutely fine in landing the aircraft and shutting down to do a proper visual inspection of the airframe, rotor blades, and tail rotor. Upon finding no damage and absent any unusual indications....I would have cranked back up and returned to the maintenance base.

Let's not get crossed up over semantics or terminology.

What I am trying to understand is why the Feds got called and the delay in removing the aircraft when there had not been any damage to the aircraft beyond the missing window panel.

Sounds to me like some folks are getting gun shy at Ornge with all of the investigations going on currently.

helihub

Not the first AgustaWestland window to pop out in flight in 2012 either....

North & South

helihub,
when, where, how...?

tDawe

Not even the first ORNGE 139 to lose a window. A Co-pilots window decided it didn't wanna ride in a 139 either late last year.

@ Winnie, Very common for medics to move about unrestrained after the aircraft has taken off.

I wouldn't wanna be out of my chair reaching for something just to have the door right beside me slide open. No word of if the structural damage reported in the article was caused by the medics sh*ting their pants.

Jet Ranger

FIAT ... maybe, Alfa Romeo

malabo

So which door and which window was this one?