Hi there,
I'm a layman (except for a XC paraglider license), just a decade long fan of helicopters. Via a friend of mine (just gets his medical tomorrow) I know the owner of
http://www.flymed.at, who had to get himself a EC135 (waiting for business:
http://nassfeld4.it-wms.com/big_current1.jpg) as his three BO-105 have been grounded for HEMS operations by JAR OPS3, in effect in Austria since 1-Jan-2010.
After I got my (first) passenger ride aboard a BO105 and talking to the owner, I started to dig into real world helicopters vs. JAR-OPS3 on the net out of curiosity. I recently read an AS355 accident report
http://versa.bmvit.gv.at/uploads/med...ar_2004_02.pdf
(rather elaborate: calculating turbine rpm from frequencies present on tourist witness videos, checking cockpit light filament condition under microscope...)
where a HEMS chopper hit a cable (low voltage power line) in the Alps, whereafter the Austrian "NTSB" recommended cable cutters as strongly suggestet HEMS equipment!
And today I found this vid
vs. that one
I'm a bit puzzled comparing these, maybe you pros can shed some light on the theme of helis vs. cables:
- why did the MedVac simply slice through them w/o effect, they even landed smoothly, no visible control issues?
- why did the second one (where the ground personnel tug on the cable) end so horribly?
- why did the tail boom break off almost instanly, when it was the main rotor who hit the cable?
- why did the whole structure of the rotor mast got torn out of the cabin?
TIA
Peter
PS: that topic caught on the me, because unmakred cables a the number two danger for paragliders, after pilot weather judgement error.
