In conversation tonight with another of Pilot's 40 year plus friends, Jack, we both agreed that the pilot Gary Vaucher would never intentionally depart from the cushioning structure of the aircraft, and any control, no matter how grave the situation, and NEVER EVER abandon his passengers.
The burning question is why did the pilot Gary Vaucher have his safety harness off?
Secondly, how did the door get opened?
Thirdly, Why were there suitcases on the ground by the Pilot.
WHY WAS THE PILOT'S HARNESS OFF?:
A link in a blog above,
http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/361...t-what-if.html),
refers to discussions about the location of the fire extinguisher in the cockpit of the R44. Some of the bloggers said the fire extinguisher is located on the opposite side of the cabin, out of reach of the pilot. The specific statement was that to reach the fire extinguisher, the pilot would have to release his safety harness. This seems plausable in the case of this accident. (There was also the blog that said if a fire extinguisher were discharged in the cabin, it would make it impossible to see, and the powder would adhere to the inside of the windshield). If not the fire extinguisher, the pilot may have released his harness to reach or retrieve an emergency checklist or some other item.
WHY WERE THE DOORS OPEN? First, there was a witness report that there was an explosion and fire in the cabin before the Pilot came out of the helicopter. The explosion itself could have blown the doors open from their latches. Another explanation is that there was smoke or fuel fumes in the cabin, and the doors had been cracked open for ventilation by the pilot and passengers. This is highly likely.
WHY WERE THERE SUITCASES BY THE PILOT ON THE GROUND? There appears a large dent in a vehicle behind the body in a photo from the news, along with a large black item. Closer inspection supports the idea that the black item is a large suitcase, and the dent in the car could have been from the suitcase. Both are inside of the police caution tape, under the hole in the metal roof.
Perhaps the suitcases were Behind the pilot, not tied down, on the same side of the helicopter. While Gary had his harness off to reach for the fire extinguisher, perhaps the cyclical was pushed to the side, and/or the collective was pressed down, or the Yaw pedal was pressed, and the helicopter attitude shifted. Both the unsecured pilot and the unsecured suitcases would have come out because the doors were unlatched.
Jack and I have also speculated that the suitcases may have been in the front with the pilot, and were perhaps in the way to getting to the fire extinguisher, or perhaps they were heavy and burdening the helicopter, or for some reason had to be removed. In this case, we speculate the pilot removed his harness to toss the suitcases out and perhaps to get to the fire extinguisher. The suitcases could have slipped across against the controls. An inadvertant push on the cyclical, or some other change in the attitude of the helicopter could easily have sent Gary out the door with the suitcases.
These are the ONLY reasonable explanations we can come up with for Gary exiting the helicopter before his passengers. We believe one of these explanations IS the explanation for this bizarre event. Gary FELL out the door. He would not and could not exit voluntarily. We know him very well. He would have taken whatever control he had to care for his passengers.
It is also highly likely that if Gary had not slipped out of the helicopter, he may have put it on the ground in a survivable way.