<sigh> I get tired of you gals. I don't mind being
compared to Lu, but calling me a Yank?! I'm glad Steve76 had the decency to retract THAT remark.
I wasn't actually going to post any more on this subject, as it's been beaten to death just as surely as the poor bloke with the videocamera was. But you ladies just bring out the worst in me I guess.
Little Stevie76 and others seem to focus on credibility...as if *my* credibility matters here. Sorry! It does not matter whether I'm a low-time Robbo pilot who hasn't a clue why a tail rotor turns one way or t'other (as Steve76 believes), or whether I have more time in my logbook than a certain unnamed Sikorsky test pilot whose initials are Nick Lappos (can I say *his* name?) which in fact I do. It doesn't matter if I've never even seen a helicopter.
See, I've never commented on Mr. R...(oops! almost said his name) *** *****'s proficiency or skill as a pilot. I've never mentioned his smoothness, checklist use or expertise in passenger briefings or autorotations. Frankly, I don't care about any of that.
WHAT WE KNOW (Our story so far):
In early August, a rotor blade attached to a Bell 412 which was in flight at a skydiver convention in the U.S. and carrying nine fare-paying passengers made contact with a photographer on the ground and killed him.
Eek.
"How can that happen?" you ask incredulously. "Wouldn't that be a
de facto violation of U.S. FAR 91.13 that says you cannot endanger persons in the aircraft or on the ground?
Well, searching some skydiver's websites turned up pictures of said pilot doing some wild and crazy things that most certainly look like they qualify under the FAA's definition of aerobatics (FAR 91.303). More pictures from inside the ship appear to show the aircraft in
at least a 30 degree nose-down attitude with the PIC and SIC wearing no parachutes (91.307).
Even the skydiver's own official website refers to flights with this pilot as "E-ticket" rides and "thrill rides." N.B., it must take a LOT for a
skydiver to consider something a thrill.
Then there's this little tidbit, taken from a skydiver's website and posted by a chap who says he was actually *on* the fatal flight (I'll provide the link on request):
I was in the back right hand side of the helicopter. We took off, went into max acceloration and banked HARD right just before the corner of the corn field. When that helicopter banks hard it is almost inverted. Just the other side of the corn was the individual in the crouching position, he went from the crouching position to the standing with his video camera in hand. I was looking him in the face when I saw the main rotor strike him 2 times. It actually hit him 3 times. There was a very loud and explosion sending dibris into the air. Without getting into detail "please don't ask" This was a terrible accident. My heart goes out to the victum, his new fiance, family, *** and everyone.
After the accident, the skydivers persuaded the pilot to continue flying througout the weekend. Out of sympathy and support, they made up a big card for him, signed by many skydivers, which said "WE'RE BEHIND YA!" Just below that was a picture of a Bell 206...an upside down Bell 206. (Link to the pic on request)
There's even more, but why go through it all again? You lot can wait for the official NTSB report if you like. You can be politically correct and illogically loyal and say, "Well, maybe what he was doing wasn't THAT bad..." Me, I consider this pilot to be a menace to society who, by the nature of his actions caused the death of another person and nearly nine others plus himself. If even half of what the photographic evidence reveals is true, and if ANY of the written posts about him can be believed, he should have been stopped a LONG time ago. It's just too damn bad that it took a death to bring this all to light.
And that's about all I have to say on this subject. If any of you girls want to b*tch about it anymore, go right ahead.