Originally Posted by
Arnie Madsen
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Interesting to note impact scene from the NTSB video posted by Airbubba ..... the main rotor blades appear to be at the initial impact site and the remainder of the fuselage bounced and landed a bit farther away ...... could that indicate inverted flight at impact ??
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I agree. There is an almost circular pattern evident (to me anyway) at the site of the initial impact point. If looking at the NTSB B-Roll of the site (Post #206), the tail fin is out of the above photo, just below the bottom edge of the photograph. It appears that the bulk of the wreckage (fuselage etc.) traveled (possibly rolling) from right-to-left in the above photo, with the fuselage winding up on its left side. This could indicate that the helicopter was in a side slip as well as being inverted. In my opinion, this was not a CFIT.
While having flown quite a bit in helicopters, I'm not a helicopter pilot - just a relatively low time fixed wing; consequently, this is just a bunch of relatively ignorant speculation on my part. In my defense, I do have more a little experience in aircraft crash investigation.
Cheers,
Grog