Melbourne Olympic Park bingle
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Melbourne Olympic Park bingle
Pilot's lucky escape
A PILOT commuting racegoers to and from Flemington has walked away with minor injuries after her helicopter spectacularly crashed at Collingwood Football Club's Olympic Park base.
The chopper, used to transport cashed-up punters and celebrities, plummeted to the ground after she lost control not long after take off at 6.30pm today.
The helicopter, which did not have any passengers on board it, spun and damaged a car before crashing back onto the oval.
The pilot was treated at the scene for minor injuries after walking away from the wreckage of the helicopter.
She was taken to the Alfred Hospital by ambulance for observation.
Witness James Sharman said he heard the crash from his East Melbourne apartment.
"I was just on the balcony and I heard a big bang and I didn't know what it's was. It's good to know no one was hurt," the 27-year-old said.
Three fire crews doused the helicopter with foam to smother the fuel leak and a small fire and were remaining on the scene.
The chopper, used to transport cashed-up punters and celebrities, plummeted to the ground after she lost control not long after take off at 6.30pm today.
The helicopter, which did not have any passengers on board it, spun and damaged a car before crashing back onto the oval.
The pilot was treated at the scene for minor injuries after walking away from the wreckage of the helicopter.
She was taken to the Alfred Hospital by ambulance for observation.
Witness James Sharman said he heard the crash from his East Melbourne apartment.
"I was just on the balcony and I heard a big bang and I didn't know what it's was. It's good to know no one was hurt," the 27-year-old said.
Three fire crews doused the helicopter with foam to smother the fuel leak and a small fire and were remaining on the scene.
Last edited by Squeaks; 2nd Nov 2013 at 09:29.
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By golly that crash would have screwed up the operation if it happened earlier in the day. They operate at about 2 arrivals and departures per 5 minutes so the flow-on effect would have stuffed things up dramatically.
Certainly sounds dramatic, plummeting to the ground shortly after takeoff.. Reads like she has no idea how to fly, but yet she would have just dropped off a number of passengers. Great journalism.
Certainly sounds dramatic, plummeting to the ground shortly after takeoff.. Reads like she has no idea how to fly, but yet she would have just dropped off a number of passengers. Great journalism.
Last edited by VH-XXX; 2nd Nov 2013 at 10:21.
Bit of an update from ABC
Helicopter ferrying Victoria Derby spectators crashes in Collingwood Football Club oval in Melbourne - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
A helicopter working to ferry people to and from the Victoria Derby races in Melbourne has crashed at the Collingwood Football Club's training oval.Police say a 45-year-old pilot from Mornington is lucky to be alive after flipping her chopper on take off.
Acting senior sergeant John Alexovski says a bystander dragged her out of the chopper after it flipped and that she was "very fortunate".
"It could have easily been a fatality," he said.
Acting senior sergeant Alexovski says the pilot is suffering from shock, has minor injuries to her hands and is recovering in the Alfred Hospital.
He said it was lucky no one else was around when the chopper came down.
Fire crews have sprayed the helicopter with fire retardant and police have begun an investigation into the crash.
Police say a rotor came off the helicopter during the accident, flew through a nearby marquee and damaged a nearby car.
Helicopter ferrying Victoria Derby spectators crashes in Collingwood Football Club oval in Melbourne - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
A helicopter working to ferry people to and from the Victoria Derby races in Melbourne has crashed at the Collingwood Football Club's training oval.Police say a 45-year-old pilot from Mornington is lucky to be alive after flipping her chopper on take off.
Acting senior sergeant John Alexovski says a bystander dragged her out of the chopper after it flipped and that she was "very fortunate".
"It could have easily been a fatality," he said.
Acting senior sergeant Alexovski says the pilot is suffering from shock, has minor injuries to her hands and is recovering in the Alfred Hospital.
He said it was lucky no one else was around when the chopper came down.
Fire crews have sprayed the helicopter with fire retardant and police have begun an investigation into the crash.
Police say a rotor came off the helicopter during the accident, flew through a nearby marquee and damaged a nearby car.
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The "nearby marquee" is usually host to the Heli company staff and waiting patrons... At any other time of the day this could have resulted in multiple fatalities. It's a temporary setup.
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It will be interesting to see how it affects cup day operations. They usually operate 10+ choppers but it might put the punters off if they haven't been able to clean the wreckage up.
Glad the pilot was able to walk away.
Glad the pilot was able to walk away.
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A helicopter working to ferry people to and from the Victoria Derby races in Melbourne has crashed at the Collingwood Football Club's training oval.
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Stunning photo/s. I wonder whether such an event would put off a Heli pilot, I mean anything that flies is dangerous but Heli's seem to be on the 'edge'.
Always wanted to get a Heli license but apart from the extreme cost & virtually no employment with it (at my age) this event is the main reason as to why I wouldn't.
Another Heli survivor, am sure this young lady will grab an extra Lotto ticket or two very soon
Wmk2
Always wanted to get a Heli license but apart from the extreme cost & virtually no employment with it (at my age) this event is the main reason as to why I wouldn't.
Another Heli survivor, am sure this young lady will grab an extra Lotto ticket or two very soon
Wmk2
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There was an eye witness on the radio this morning describing what she saw: and part of it was a perfect (layman's) description of dynamic rollover 
The same station's news reports had the usual garbage about how terrible it would have been if it had happened over a built up suburb
Wally, you're showing your age calling a 45 year old a 'young lady'
The same station's news reports had the usual garbage about how terrible it would have been if it had happened over a built up suburb
Wally, you're showing your age calling a 45 year old a 'young lady'
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'squarwky' that age is young mate She's of still child bearing age, to me that's almost jail bait!
I had to do a bit of research on Dynamic rollover, very interesting but there doesn't look like to many ground obstacles for her heli to hit whist going sideways upon lift off. The way the material reads it's once yr CoG goes past the 'pivot' point of the obstacle it's all over red rover if ya don't drop the machine back down instantly, am I missing something here guys?
Hope she gets back on her horse & rides (flies) off into the sunset again soon
Wmk2
She's of still child bearing age, to me that's almost jail bait!I had to do a bit of research on Dynamic rollover, very interesting but there doesn't look like to many ground obstacles for her heli to hit whist going sideways upon lift off. The way the material reads it's once yr CoG goes past the 'pivot' point of the obstacle it's all over red rover if ya don't drop the machine back down instantly, am I missing something here guys?
Hope she gets back on her horse & rides (flies) off into the sunset again soon
Wmk2
Last edited by Wally Mk2; 3rd Nov 2013 at 02:01.
very interesting but there doesn't look like to many ground obstacles for her heli to hit whist going sideways upon lift off
If the helicopters centre of gravity is located towards the rear limit behind the rotor mast, such as in a Longranger with no passengers, the machine will lift off the ground distinctly nose first. If this is done with too much haste, it could roll over backwards, and then possibly to the side once the tail skid touches down.
The impact photo is amazing, and a good reminder to us all what spectacular consequences even a small mistake can have.
Last edited by lelebebbel; 3rd Nov 2013 at 02:48.
I doubt if it was dynamic rollover, the skids are too far off the ground - the impact of the rotors, while having plenty of kinetic energy, are unlikely to be able to lift the whole machine back off the ground to that height.
In the first of the series, you can see how the main rotor has hit the ground 4 times (each hit raised a swirl of dust) and the second was the kicker. Transmission torn from the machine, tail boom buckled to hit the ground and then broken off, airframe buckled so much the doors popped open and were then shed, hydraulics torn from the roof - game well and truly over. It then fell to the ground and lay there for a little nap.
In the first of the series, you can see how the main rotor has hit the ground 4 times (each hit raised a swirl of dust) and the second was the kicker. Transmission torn from the machine, tail boom buckled to hit the ground and then broken off, airframe buckled so much the doors popped open and were then shed, hydraulics torn from the roof - game well and truly over. It then fell to the ground and lay there for a little nap.
Last edited by Ascend Charlie; 3rd Nov 2013 at 03:56.
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AC,
If you're looking at the image of the machine thrashing itself to pieces, there is a better one which only appears on the Herald Sun iPad where the heel of the right skid is still on the ground. You can also see the matting that the machine was on, and could have created a snagging point on the starboard skid?
The eye witness on the 3AW Sunday morning show at about 11:55 was quite specific about the LR being one skid off the ground/one still on the ground when it suddenly turned over. She wasn't by any means an aviation person, just someone waiting to pick up a relative arriving by helicopter.
3AW News link
On air interview
Sounds like DR to me.
If you're looking at the image of the machine thrashing itself to pieces, there is a better one which only appears on the Herald Sun iPad where the heel of the right skid is still on the ground. You can also see the matting that the machine was on, and could have created a snagging point on the starboard skid?
The eye witness on the 3AW Sunday morning show at about 11:55 was quite specific about the LR being one skid off the ground/one still on the ground when it suddenly turned over. She wasn't by any means an aviation person, just someone waiting to pick up a relative arriving by helicopter.
3AW News link
On air interview
Sounds like DR to me.
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'lele' yeah I gather that friction of a skid for Eg is one of the same thing (an obstruction to ground sideways movement) I understand this as I play with toy Heli's & they do the same thing, crash! One way for me to overcome this possible sideways or ever rearward movement of a toy heli it to 'jump' into the air quickly then reduce pwr, could this not be done in a real chopper? Just asking as I am interested in these complex machines:-)
'lele' I'm also trying to get my head around yr comment re Long-ranger with a CoG behind the mast would make the machine move fwd upon applying lift.
I would have thought that any lift (made by the big propeller above the machine) in the above CoG situation would make the chopepr tilt rearwards, pivot around the CoG, maybe I have the bull by the tail here & am happy to be corrected
Wmk2
'lele' I'm also trying to get my head around yr comment re Long-ranger with a CoG behind the mast would make the machine move fwd upon applying lift.
I would have thought that any lift (made by the big propeller above the machine) in the above CoG situation would make the chopepr tilt rearwards, pivot around the CoG, maybe I have the bull by the tail here & am happy to be corrected
Wmk2
Last edited by Wally Mk2; 3rd Nov 2013 at 05:58.
