PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Norways first AW101 on its side
View Single Post
Old 17th Jan 2019, 19:43
  #107 (permalink)  
Winnie
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: CYQS
Age: 49
Posts: 336
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
SASless, there were many mistakes by the crew, I did not count, and I do agree. I recently moved from a steamchicken (212) to an EC-135.... Huge difference.

I think the most pressing thing that I read in the report was the crews had requested time in a helicopter, ANY helicopter, just to get the feel back, but were rebuffed with "you'll get the feel back quickly!"

I have never sat in a 101 so have no clue, but initially the collective position apparently is higher than what thy were used to from a 412, and the throw is relatively small in the 101? Who knows, but there were a multitude of poor habbit things that the crews were taught in Yeovil, that led to many of the mistakes.
Being
  • hand on the collective during start (have mag brake so no need)
  • advancing # 2, a couple second wait then # 3 EMSS (checklist said not to do simultaneously, so the didn't, but also didn't wait until the rotor had spun up to operating RRPM, which would have triggered some response as 1 engine isn't powerful enough to accelerate the rotor alone), this was learned from the instructors
  • AFCS check (prior to starting rotor) not done, because 1 they weren't going flying, and 2 it often failed pre-rotor start so they had started doing it later..
  • Not centering the controls (due to where it was after the AFCS check in the checklist.
I'm not making excuses, just trying to point out there were a multitude of learned factors that caused them to line all the holes in the cheese up...

Personally, I think the government in Norway/MOD (Norway) is to blame for most of it, due to not hiring all the necessary staff, and Leonardo, for not having the proper training materials ready/available, and MOJ (Norway) for being cheap with the training money. After all, there was a HUGE amount of money spent on this, spending a few additional hours on actual aircraft time would have proven beneficial. But that is Norway in a nutshell, "Spare seg til fant" (save yourself poor). Pinch pennies and throw big money away.
Winnie is offline