R-44 Down off Long Island, NY
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Looks to be a well executed autorotation to the water with pop-out floats in play after scary noises. No fuss, no muss 
Helicopter carrying Shane McMahon makes emergency landing in waters off Gilgo Beach | abc7ny.com
Helicopter carrying Shane McMahon makes emergency landing in waters off Gilgo Beach | abc7ny.com
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Helicopter carrying WWE exec makes emergency ocean landing
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What surprises me is an R-44 was able to fit Shane McMahon let alone get airborne. The other thing that's a surprise, why rent an R-44 when he can obviously afford a corporate S76 or AW139?
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@gulliBell
Some people, though they have a lot of money, are still "down to Earth".
The other thing that's a surprise, why rent an R-44 when he can obviously afford a corporate S76 or AW139?
A Robbie has never done this on me. Wonder what could cause the "bang"?
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For all you Robinson bashers, a quick search of the NTSB database shows that, for 2017 to date, the following breakdown of accidents by manufacturer:
Sikorsky - 2 (11 fatalities total)
Schweizer - 3
All other types - 6 (2 fatalities total)
Hughes/MD - 8 (6 fatalities total)
Airbus/Eurocopter - 9 (1 fatality total)
Bell - 25 (20 fatalities total)
Robinson - 34 (17 fatalities total)
Bell seems to be holding its own with Robinson in the accident and fatality departments. I did this sort of quick study for a previous year and Bells actually had more accidents and fatalities than Robinsons. And yet they are one of the most respected makes. Should we not be flying Bell helicopters, either? Of course not.
I'm unable to find any data showing hours flown by each make, but it's easy to suspect that both Robinson and Bell are the busiest. Given that Robinsons do the bulk of the training in the US, that's a lot of hours doing high risk stuff. Similarly, it's easy to visualize that Bells are doing the bulk of high risk work (long line, etc.) Busy + risky = more opportunity for accidents.
If anyone had any rate based (hour normalized) statistics for the US, by make, for a recent year (modern Robinsons with modern training, not pre-SFAR 73), I'd be very interested to see them.
Sikorsky - 2 (11 fatalities total)
Schweizer - 3
All other types - 6 (2 fatalities total)
Hughes/MD - 8 (6 fatalities total)
Airbus/Eurocopter - 9 (1 fatality total)
Bell - 25 (20 fatalities total)
Robinson - 34 (17 fatalities total)
Bell seems to be holding its own with Robinson in the accident and fatality departments. I did this sort of quick study for a previous year and Bells actually had more accidents and fatalities than Robinsons. And yet they are one of the most respected makes. Should we not be flying Bell helicopters, either? Of course not.
I'm unable to find any data showing hours flown by each make, but it's easy to suspect that both Robinson and Bell are the busiest. Given that Robinsons do the bulk of the training in the US, that's a lot of hours doing high risk stuff. Similarly, it's easy to visualize that Bells are doing the bulk of high risk work (long line, etc.) Busy + risky = more opportunity for accidents.
If anyone had any rate based (hour normalized) statistics for the US, by make, for a recent year (modern Robinsons with modern training, not pre-SFAR 73), I'd be very interested to see them.
For all you Robinson bashers, a quick search of the NTSB database shows that, for 2017 to date, the following breakdown of accidents by manufacturer:
Sikorsky - 2 (11 fatalities total)
Schweizer - 3
All other types - 6 (2 fatalities total)
Hughes/MD - 8 (6 fatalities total)
Airbus/Eurocopter - 9 (1 fatality total)
Bell - 25 (20 fatalities total)
Robinson - 34 (17 fatalities total)
Bell seems to be holding its own with Robinson in the accident and fatality departments. I did this sort of quick study for a previous year and Bells actually had more accidents and fatalities than Robinsons. And yet they are one of the most respected makes. Should we not be flying Bell helicopters, either? Of course not.
I'm unable to find any data showing hours flown by each make, but it's easy to suspect that both Robinson and Bell are the busiest. Given that Robinsons do the bulk of the training in the US, that's a lot of hours doing high risk stuff. Similarly, it's easy to visualize that Bells are doing the bulk of high risk work (long line, etc.) Busy + risky = more opportunity for accidents.
If anyone had any rate based (hour normalized) statistics for the US, by make, for a recent year (modern Robinsons with modern training, not pre-SFAR 73), I'd be very interested to see them.
Sikorsky - 2 (11 fatalities total)
Schweizer - 3
All other types - 6 (2 fatalities total)
Hughes/MD - 8 (6 fatalities total)
Airbus/Eurocopter - 9 (1 fatality total)
Bell - 25 (20 fatalities total)
Robinson - 34 (17 fatalities total)
Bell seems to be holding its own with Robinson in the accident and fatality departments. I did this sort of quick study for a previous year and Bells actually had more accidents and fatalities than Robinsons. And yet they are one of the most respected makes. Should we not be flying Bell helicopters, either? Of course not.
I'm unable to find any data showing hours flown by each make, but it's easy to suspect that both Robinson and Bell are the busiest. Given that Robinsons do the bulk of the training in the US, that's a lot of hours doing high risk stuff. Similarly, it's easy to visualize that Bells are doing the bulk of high risk work (long line, etc.) Busy + risky = more opportunity for accidents.
If anyone had any rate based (hour normalized) statistics for the US, by make, for a recent year (modern Robinsons with modern training, not pre-SFAR 73), I'd be very interested to see them.
You would also need to put accidents into the context of hours flown.
I think you may find there will be fewer accidents of the other types that use the words "unexpected loss of power" or "unexplained breakup".
You have to give Robinsons their due, they have made helo flying accessible and affordable for many that would otherwise have little alternative but they have been used in ways Frank never intended.
While not relevant to this accident, the sheer number of fatal accidents that happen in seemingly mundane conditions with little explanation other than simply blaming pilot error still raises concerns.
I think you may find there will be fewer accidents of the other types that use the words "unexpected loss of power" or "unexplained breakup".
You have to give Robinsons their due, they have made helo flying accessible and affordable for many that would otherwise have little alternative but they have been used in ways Frank never intended.
While not relevant to this accident, the sheer number of fatal accidents that happen in seemingly mundane conditions with little explanation other than simply blaming pilot error still raises concerns.
Bell ringer - on the button!
The Robbo was cheap enough to attract "undesirables" into the industry/sport.
When you put a moderately wealthy moron behind the wheel of a sports car / fast boat / helicopter - you get the expected outcome. To quantify the statement, I am describing a minority here. I'm sure the vast majority of well to do individuals are responsible adults.
My neighbour who owns a hotel a big boat and a bentley bought an R22 - because he could. He bought it part share with his brother. He flew it home to the hotel where it was going to live and parked it on the lawn outside. Weeks later his brother rocks up makes a big fuss about his new toy and climbs into said helicopter only to find that when they are two up and at his weight (19st), the effing thing won't take off???
A blessing in disguise - methinks.
Lots of money makes some people think they can transcend certain standards/limits and do anything.
I see this phenomena as a way of purging society of moron's...........
I still have one question to ask of this case (pilot obviously not a moron): How far offshore was he and did he really need to be far enough offshore to have to EOL into the water. This could easily have ended up another tragedy.
The Robbo was cheap enough to attract "undesirables" into the industry/sport.
When you put a moderately wealthy moron behind the wheel of a sports car / fast boat / helicopter - you get the expected outcome. To quantify the statement, I am describing a minority here. I'm sure the vast majority of well to do individuals are responsible adults.
My neighbour who owns a hotel a big boat and a bentley bought an R22 - because he could. He bought it part share with his brother. He flew it home to the hotel where it was going to live and parked it on the lawn outside. Weeks later his brother rocks up makes a big fuss about his new toy and climbs into said helicopter only to find that when they are two up and at his weight (19st), the effing thing won't take off???
A blessing in disguise - methinks.
Lots of money makes some people think they can transcend certain standards/limits and do anything.
I see this phenomena as a way of purging society of moron's...........
I still have one question to ask of this case (pilot obviously not a moron): How far offshore was he and did he really need to be far enough offshore to have to EOL into the water. This could easily have ended up another tragedy.
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You guys are certainly correct about lack of context in the data, however at least it can't be said that Robinsons are dropping out of the sky for any reason at a significantly higher rate than Bells.
And there's no question that lower cost of entry = lower time pilots = higher risk. Which again, speaks to the truism that it is the pilot, not the machine. Blame Robinson pilots if you wish, but don't blame the intrinsic nature of the design.
Just out of curiosity, I took another pass through the data for 2017. It would seem the Bells are indeed hard working, so to speak, while the Robinsons are much more of mixed bag, half working, half "personal/business" type stuff. Obviously there's no data as to the causes yet.
And there's no question that lower cost of entry = lower time pilots = higher risk. Which again, speaks to the truism that it is the pilot, not the machine. Blame Robinson pilots if you wish, but don't blame the intrinsic nature of the design.
Just out of curiosity, I took another pass through the data for 2017. It would seem the Bells are indeed hard working, so to speak, while the Robinsons are much more of mixed bag, half working, half "personal/business" type stuff. Obviously there's no data as to the causes yet.