Originally Posted by
topradio
Has anybody survived mast bumping?
When I was training, about 20 years ago, there was a story about a chap who managed to land a 22 after a mast bump and survived. I don't know how true this was.
From the
link GoodGrief posted:
Bell and many military officials have insisted that mast bumping will never occur unless a critical part fails or the pilot flies beyond the limits set for the helicopter. But the only person to survive a catastrophic mast bumping disputes their contention.
Col. Larry B. Higgins has told his superiors — and the Star-Telegram — that he was flying a Cobra helicopter within its operating limits last August when a rotor blade sliced through the cockpit, killing his co-pilot instantly. Higgins was able to parachute to safety only because the blade cut off the front of the cockpit, giving him an instant escape route.
Some occupants are not killed instantly, however.
A Marine Corps major was aboard a helicopter at the test pilot school in 1980 when a mast bumping and separation killed his pilot but left him alive. Equipped with a parachute, he pulled his door handle in an effort to bail out, but was unable to open the door. Finally, he broke the handle.
But by the time he was outside the helicopter and had pulled his ripcord, he had hit the ground. An instant later, the helicopter fell on him, according to the Navy investigation.
In a 1981 Australian crash for which Bell is being sued, the Australian military tried to determine why a helicopter crew chief was unable to parachute to safety.
Investigators suggested that he may still have been shaken because of a troubling flight in the same helicopter the week before. He may have frozen in shock when -- after the mast bumping occurred -- the rotor blade came through the cockpit and decapitated the pilot sitting in front of him.
"In this accident, the visual scenes confronting him would have been horrific," the investigators said, noting the crew chief had up to 12 seconds to escape. "This, coupled with (his) already high state of anxiety, may well have been sufficient to freeze him in a state of immobile terror."
This was the first time I read about helicopter air crew being equipped with parachutes btw. Maybe not the worst idea when one has to fly a robinson...