PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - South Maroota NSW crash
View Single Post
Old 16th Jul 2022, 06:53
  #28 (permalink)  
Ascend Charlie
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Great South East, tired and retired
Posts: 4,388
Received 226 Likes on 104 Posts
Mast bumping would have the rotors some distance from the fuselage, can't see that in the pic. The door pair looks undamaged, so the scenario of the doors coming off and hitting the main rotor or the tail rotor would be unlikely.

There was a case in the 90s involving a B206 with the ambulance kit fitted. This kit has made the rigid pillar behind the copilot door into a removable item, operated by a handle on the inside of the pillar, but supposedly done in such a way that the handle cannot be turned if the copilot door is shut - i.e. it can operate on the ground with the door open. Break the safety wire, turn the handle and the pillar slides out, still attached to the rear door, which now "hinges" on two hooks on its rear edge. These hooks fit into two loops on the fuselage. The whole left side is now open, and the stretcher can be loaded in on top of the rear seat, the copilot seat, and into the footwell. Close the rear door by sliding the pillar back into place and turning the handle. Re-wire the handle after the stretcher is removed.

On this occasion, the 206 had pilot plus 3, watching the Bridge-to-Bridge boat race on the Hawkesbury. A person sitting in the rear left seat wanted to lean forward and shout to the occupant of the copilot seat. He grasped the door pillar for leverage, but managed to operate the handle, which was installed backwards, opening into the cabin. The pilot was somewhat surprised when the door pillar and rear door departed the aircraft into the Hawkesbury. This pillar is an essential part of the fuselage, so he should have landed as ASAP as possible, but instead chose to make a breezy, wobbly trip back to Bankstown.

Last edited by Ascend Charlie; 16th Jul 2022 at 07:09.
Ascend Charlie is offline