R44 down in the Karoo
 

:confused: Heard about and R44 that went down in the Karoo somewhere over the weekend. Pilot and pax seem OK, but does nyone else perhaps have any gen?:sad:

Went down on a farm near Sutherland - dont know the points of dep/arr.

Pilot was injured and taken to local hospital by local transport - pax OK.

Dont know the registration.

What is of cocern is that this is the 3rd R22/44 that has gone down this week. Is it a conincidence, or are they related. Would like some more opinions.

I am sure that the little lollipop is about to come under some intense scrutiny in the near future....not a bad thing I believe

I'm not sure if you are refering to the machines here, but if so I think you need to think about the following:

R22/44's have been flying many thousands of hours in this country without accidents/incidents apart from the odd game capture accident which normally happens due to bad piloting skills.

The question must be: Why all of a sudden all these accidents? The answer might not be clear to all, but I think we must seriously start looking at the quality of ab initio training in this country. I have seen some shocking examples of utmost bad training at some schools over the past few years. Instructors that send students solo without even teaching them an engine failure in the hover, engine failure in the climb/descent or how to handle a simple emergency like a governor failure, let alone the handling of a low Rrpm condition.

What can you expect? Accidents, accidents and more accidents!!!!!

R22s have had a bad rap for a long time. At one point the insurance boys wouldn't even look at them without eye watering premiums. Could be the low time student thing or just lack of power. Have no idea as I'm not a heli driver but have watched them operate since they got to SA. Whatever it is, time to sort out the problem.

I think one has to have a fair amount of sympathy for the R22 / R44 series. They are inherently underpowered (specifically Beta & Astro), but have been vastly improved of late.

I agree with the notion of the ab initio training. Too many guys nowadays are purely getting PPL(H)s for the sake of keeping up with the Jones', after having tried Scuba diving, skate boarding, 4 x 4, etc. More often than not only a fat wallet and no savvy whatsoever.

It's probably also most unfair to, especially, the R22s. The high-risk & exposure that the machines are subjected to makes for the perfect scapegoat, albeit that a catastrophic failure very seldom occurs. Ironically enough, "new" pilots are expected to Solo and Hire&Fly on the weakest machines possibel and wait their turn to fly the bigger (more poweful) types.

Suppose that's just the way the boperwors burns....

Would still like to know what exactly happened in Sutherland and why has it all been kept so quiet? Perhaps a cock-eye charter or game job at the same time? Methinks perhaps rather get the facts first before I'm shot before dawn!:eek:

FD

Avery good mate is (arguably) the highest time R22 pilot in SA or Southern Africa .. well then maybe Africa.

He flies in the dead zone day in and out. Only in December months less than 100 hours and maybe January months.

The rest of the time he is between trees and schrubs at low level doing what he does best in a great machine.

Touch wood : He has not crashed and neither has any of his machines failed.

The Robbie as a trainer and game capture machine is a statement of technology comes in small well done packages :ok:

Sad about these accidents and I think purely co-incidence that they are all Robbie's. If their was another type of chopper for the job it would have been accidents in that type.

My http://www.globalbuzz.org/forums/ima...ard/2cents.gif worth. ;)

Gunss

Any new news on this accident? What is the registration number of the R44? Who was the pilot and what is his condition?

Quite a few Enstroms around used for training, yet it never seems to rain Enstroms the way it does Robbies.:confused:

Surely the Robbies must outweigh the Enstroms 20-1 .. or more me thinks ..

And for sure my bud will never use a Enstrom to do the dangerous work he is doing ? :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

Took a look at an Enstrom and they appear much sturdier than the Robbie. Probably more pricey too which may go some way to explaining the numbers.

I phoned my friend :

Robbie $207k Enstrom he thinks about $280

Robbie vs Enstom - he would put it at 20-1 ratio.

Robbie 99% of accidents is pilot error. Why ? Cause they are the preferred trainers. They are also preferred in the game industry - a high risk area.

A Robbie's engine NEVER goes .. he has lost count but more than 7 000 hours on them and never ever a single problem. Why ? because it is a "standard engine".

Enstrom and Hughes 300 ; same engine but turbo charged / super charged / fuel injection .. Porsche dipstick ... they do not always keep the reliability aspects in place.

I hope it helps ... he LOVES his Robbie but he also mentions people **** around in them ... stuff they should never do .. so when he goes for a renewal he rents someone else's aircraft ! :p:p:p