22 year old killed by tail rotor
Why ruin your CoG and drag profile carrying around an oversized fan on the tail.
People do stupid things, it is part of the human condition and it cannot be regulated into submission.
Occasionally Darwin will intervene, and that is sad for those involved, but sympathies aside, why it offends a small bunch if others are critical or indeed unsympathetic. That too is part of the human condition.
It is pointless drawing conclusions from media reports which are scanning and promoting unreliable sources and speculation so they can get the most clicks to up the advert income.
I will give the crew the benefit of the doubt (this is a pilot's forum right?) until it is proven otherwise, hopefully this benefit isn't misplaced.
With diverse communities come diverse points of view and character, that's part of the charm, or would you prefer everyone be the same as you?
Whilst I appreciate that some may not have liked what was a mediocre pun, that a pun can cause such offence and outrage is more of an indictment on modern offence culture than it is on the pun.
Personally, my sympathies lean to the potential fatal blow to careers, the possible protracted legal battles, emotional torment and subsequent financial ruin that this can cause for the crew, operator, employees and their dependants. Something which is neither quick, nor painless.
If it is true that the pax was negligent, then, there will be little sympathy because of the burden it created that others will have to carry for the rest of their lives, for all involved.
Of course a pro outfit needs to plan for such events, and hopefully they took precautions, but we all know you can't make the system foolproof.
We live in a world where we are expected to protect people from themselves, if we fail then we are vilified while thoughts, prayers and flowers are laid out for the victim.
Is it that foreign a concept that people can be so indifferent to a life lost, when so many are littering the news pages each week, each one neatly filling a stereotype?
Pax once asked me belligerently why I could walk under a wing of a 737 when they were not allowed. I was in uniform, as I was the Capt. Because I know where the fuel vents are. I did not get a reply. Unfortunately people do not like being told what to do & have no concept of there might be a reason. In some cases it can lead to a tragedy. Greece can be a difficult place when tragedy strikes as whatever the reason the person in charge often has to take the blame.
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This is in extremely poor taste and quite sick if I've to be honest. I'm shocked the mods haven't removed this whereas I've had plenty of totally normal posts removed.
You have deleted 47 of your own posts over the years; Mods have taken out 5 of your posts. Wicked, aren’t we?
Senior Pilot
You have deleted 47 of your own posts over the years; Mods have taken out 5 of your posts. Wicked, aren’t we?
Senior Pilot
Total non sequitur, unless you're saying that people will deliberately put their head through a safety mesh and into a tail rotor (were such a thing even possible).
From the DT...
"On Wednesday, Mr Fenton’s sister, Daisy, told The Telegraph she wanted to set the record straight after seeing a slew of inaccurate stories about her brother.
She said: “None of these stories are true, it’s so foul. We don’t come from a really wealthy background. It was his first time in a helicopter on a holiday with friends. His family and me are all here in the UK. We were told by the police.
“He did not run round the back to take a selfie. No one knows why. It was dark, he was told nothing that he couldn’t go round the back. The pilots have no protocol. They also told them they could get out with the propellers still running.”
I've read in some reports that the accident occurred around 18.20 local time, sunset in that area would have been around 20.40. Can anyone confirm this?
"On Wednesday, Mr Fenton’s sister, Daisy, told The Telegraph she wanted to set the record straight after seeing a slew of inaccurate stories about her brother.
She said: “None of these stories are true, it’s so foul. We don’t come from a really wealthy background. It was his first time in a helicopter on a holiday with friends. His family and me are all here in the UK. We were told by the police.
“He did not run round the back to take a selfie. No one knows why. It was dark, he was told nothing that he couldn’t go round the back. The pilots have no protocol. They also told them they could get out with the propellers still running.”
I've read in some reports that the accident occurred around 18.20 local time, sunset in that area would have been around 20.40. Can anyone confirm this?
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Aren't these things just accidents? Everyone points the finger, analyses why, try's to find a reason, blames someone, blames them selves, when in reality it was just human error, fallibility. An accident?
Life isn't a guarantee of success,
Many years ago I had a flight around New York with liberty helicopters. Very pleasant. A couple of years later a Cessna strayed into the area, collided with one of their helicopters and everyone died.
**** happens.
Life isn't a guarantee of success,
Many years ago I had a flight around New York with liberty helicopters. Very pleasant. A couple of years later a Cessna strayed into the area, collided with one of their helicopters and everyone died.
**** happens.
Aren't these things just accidents? Everyone points the finger, analyses why, try's to find a reason, blames someone, blames them selves, when in reality it was just human error, fallibility. An accident?
Life isn't a guarantee of success,
Many years ago I had a flight around New York with liberty helicopters. Very pleasant. A couple of years later a Cessna strayed into the area, collided with one of their helicopters and everyone died.
**** happens.
Life isn't a guarantee of success,
Many years ago I had a flight around New York with liberty helicopters. Very pleasant. A couple of years later a Cessna strayed into the area, collided with one of their helicopters and everyone died.
**** happens.
Aren't these things just accidents? Everyone points the finger, analyses why, try's to find a reason, blames someone, blames them selves, when in reality it was just human error, fallibility. An accident?
Life isn't a guarantee of success,
Many years ago I had a flight around New York with liberty helicopters. Very pleasant. A couple of years later a Cessna strayed into the area, collided with one of their helicopters and everyone died.
**** happens.
Life isn't a guarantee of success,
Many years ago I had a flight around New York with liberty helicopters. Very pleasant. A couple of years later a Cessna strayed into the area, collided with one of their helicopters and everyone died.
**** happens.
Yep. A bunch of teenagers ended up in a canal in a car and all drowned, near where I live. The road that runs alongside said canal was subsequently closed to traffic.
Aren't these things just accidents? Everyone points the finger, analyses why, try's to find a reason, blames someone, blames them selves, when in reality it was just human error, fallibility. An accident?
Life isn't a guarantee of success,
Many years ago I had a flight around New York with liberty helicopters. Very pleasant. A couple of years later a Cessna strayed into the area, collided with one of their helicopters and everyone died.
**** happens.
Life isn't a guarantee of success,
Many years ago I had a flight around New York with liberty helicopters. Very pleasant. A couple of years later a Cessna strayed into the area, collided with one of their helicopters and everyone died.
**** happens.
I shouldn't have to tell you to not walk on the railroad tracks, but I did anyway. What you do after that is out of my hands.
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Surely if a helicopter is running it is the operators responsibility to secure the area around the helicopter. If you can’t protect your passengers and don’t have ground crew to handle them then shut the thing down! We all know perfectly sensible people will do the strangest things when disembarking a helicopter.
On another note, I was surprised that a charter was being undertaken on that route by a single engine helicopter. While technically just about possible by flying within the coastal corridor, a quick trawl of the operators Flightradar track history seems to show they are cutting corners and flying direct on many of the overwater routes.
On another note, I was surprised that a charter was being undertaken on that route by a single engine helicopter. While technically just about possible by flying within the coastal corridor, a quick trawl of the operators Flightradar track history seems to show they are cutting corners and flying direct on many of the overwater routes.
I went scudd-running into IIMC in an R44 wearing my "Land and Live" cap!
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Avoid imitations
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Some more accounts of what happened, mentioning ground staff activity, both doors and a theory as to why he went back:
https://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...4fa4aea4a9daf9
https://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...4fa4aea4a9daf9
Mr Kondylis revealed Mr Fenton exited the Bell 407 craft at Lolo Airfield near Spata, Athens from the right door shortly after it landed — but returned to it and ducked under the tail of the craft.
“One ground employee went to the left door, one to the right, they disembarked and escorted them 20 metres to the building. Then one stayed with them and the other ground attendant returned to the helicopter.
“The young passenger, unknown for what reason, returned to the helicopter. We don’t know why he came back. He didn’t say anything to anyone. According to the testimonies, he was holding a mobile phone which he had to his ear, without us knowing if he was talking to someone.
“When one of the ground staff saw him walking towards the helicopter he shouted loudly in English ‘stop, stop, stop’ but he didn’t listen.
“The ground staff’s voices were also heard by the captain who was inside the helicopter and was wearing headphones. So they shouted out loud.
“The young man, according to the statements, had exited through the right door and did not head back to his seat. He went under the tail section of the helicopter and ended up on the left side where he was hit by the rotor, which at the speed it was turning was not visible.”
And police now believe he may have strayed into the rotor after going to retrieve his mobile phone after leaving it on board.
Mr Kondylis revealed Mr Fenton exited the Bell 407 craft at Lolo Airfield near Spata, Athens from the right door shortly after it landed — but returned to it and ducked under the tail of the craft.
“One ground employee went to the left door, one to the right, they disembarked and escorted them 20 metres to the building. Then one stayed with them and the other ground attendant returned to the helicopter.
“The young passenger, unknown for what reason, returned to the helicopter. We don’t know why he came back. He didn’t say anything to anyone. According to the testimonies, he was holding a mobile phone which he had to his ear, without us knowing if he was talking to someone.
“When one of the ground staff saw him walking towards the helicopter he shouted loudly in English ‘stop, stop, stop’ but he didn’t listen.
“The ground staff’s voices were also heard by the captain who was inside the helicopter and was wearing headphones. So they shouted out loud.
“The young man, according to the statements, had exited through the right door and did not head back to his seat. He went under the tail section of the helicopter and ended up on the left side where he was hit by the rotor, which at the speed it was turning was not visible.”
And police now believe he may have strayed into the rotor after going to retrieve his mobile phone after leaving it on board.
I was there that night and saw the event. A certain amount of the amber fluid contributed to this event. He was running late and ignored the advice to walk to the aircraft from the side. Also an engineer walked into the prop of my Turbo Commander one evening as it was shutting down from behind the wing....
Sympathy for all involved by this tragedy, but I'm mystified by the constant reference to what school he attended and how much the fees were. I know its England but really.