Originally Posted by
capngrog
Wonkazoo:
Are you really saying that an accomplished pilot such as yourself has had no need to develop a feel for flying?
Cheers,
Grog
No the way I read his first post here was that in the real event he froze, he knew that he should be getting out but continued to fight the unwinnable event - that almost cost him his life.
Some years ago I witnessed a helicopter crash.
The pilot was very experience fixed wing survey pilot most of his time at 247 feet AGL, recently got his helicopter licence and just converted to a very new type turbine helicopter. This day he was just building hours on type, so I did not interrupt him on his pre-flight when I arrived at work.
I watched him take off then start to fly away. Soon I saw a "puff" come from near the rear of the helicopter { brain - did I see that? that seems not normal}.
Some time later I saw the "puff" again {brain - I saw that, it is not normal. ------------------------------------- If I see that again I need to act --------------------------- The tug is just there I will use the radio and TELL him to land}
I did indeed see the third "puff" but I had no chance of using the radio, the "puff" in a fraction of a second was a massive fire covering the entire rear 3/4 of the helicopter.
I froze and watch it crash in a massive fireball - F***K Pat's dead I said as the others looked to that direction, I jumped on the tug and headed to the crash site. Most the way there a army car was heading toward me with Pat in the middle eyes like dinner plates but he acknowledged me, so I turned around and went back to the hangar.
To this day I can not put a time line on any stages of the above events but the flight was around 600 m in length - Pat was seen jumping out of the helicopter before impact by the army guys, so certainly he was in overload at that time. Jumping probably prolonged Pat's life and he gave us the clue to the crash, but the burns won soon after.
I knew that I did see that first "puff" and I knew it was not normal - I was in a safe environment. I took too long to respond - I was listening to my brain.