B206 @ Biggin Air Fair
Just a titbit to add to the sad accident at the 1977 Biggin Air Show.
I was unfortunate to witness this accident at close hand being parked 'rotors turning' at the then 03 runway threshold awaiting my turn to display ... (Enstrom G-PALS or G-BENO I think.) I watched with some concern as the Ferranti G-AVSN with four passengers went light on its skids and promptly lifted into the path of a 'short final' Tiger Moth. At about 50 feet, the Bell's M/R blades smacked into the Tiger Moth's landing gear removing both wheels one of which flew toward the crowd line approximately 30 yards from the Bell's lift-off position. The Bell's M/R head and blade assembly catastrophically separated from the cabin which also impacted fairly close to the crowd line.
In their respectrive positions, the Tiger Moth pilot would not have been able to see the Bell 206 beneath his mainplanes - similarly the Bell would not have been able to see the Moth above. I have to say that a 90 degree 'clearing turn' would have prevented the collision and in fact in training I now cite this accident to emphasise the importance of the 'look-out' turn prior to lift-off .... and as an aside, not ... "to check the approach is clear" but to note "conflicting traffic on the approach." This, on the basis that one invariably sees what one 'expects to see.' On a subsequent LPC training flight when a well known champion motor bike pilot failed to make the clearing turn ... I recall yelling as he transitioned: ... "Stop this f-cking helicopter." I'd like to think my use of the F word ensured the lesson in look-out was learned.
Regards to all. Dennis Kenyon.