Helicopter Down in the Kimberly

[Rotor1]

Is there anyone who knows about a helicopter that crashed in the Kimberly ,Australia today
Rotor1

[overpitched]

r44 1 pilot 3 pax all dead

[Rotor1]

Overpitched
Do you know if it was a private flight or a commercial opp
Rotor 1

[Time Out]

Helicopter crashes in WA's far-north
A helicopter with four people on board has crashed near Kununurra in the far-north of Western Australia.

An aircraft flying over the area has reported wreckage but no signs of movement at the crash site.

Police are on their way to the scene, about 23 miles north-west of the town.

An Air Search and Rescue spokesman confirmed the helicopter is owned by Kununurra-based charter company Heliwork.

[overpitched]

It was a commercial machine on a fishing trip. A flight of 2 1 x b206 and the 44. Pilot only got his licence recently but I don't know the cause as yet.

[Time Out]

Four die as helicopter crashes

09nov03

FOUR people are dead after a helicopter crashed in remote cattle country near Kununurra yesterday morning. The Slingair Heliwork chopper went down shortly before 11am about 40km north of the town, on a cattle station owned by media magnate Kerry Packer.

The Sunday Times understands all four men on the charter flight were from Kununurra in the state's far north.
The dead pilot was local identity Kim Rankin whose father, Dusty Rankin, was a pioneering Kimberley helicopter operator before his death in a chopper accident more than a decade ago.

The three passengers on board the Robinson 44 helicopter are understood to have been employees of the Ord River District Co-operative.

Wyndham-East Kimberley shire president Barbara Johnson said the men were well known in Kununurra and their deaths had shocked the town.

"I am devastated and the community will be devastated as news of this tragedy gets out," she said.

"Most people up here would have known these men and will feel their loss. It has just been a very sad day for Kununurra."

The men were returning from a fishing trip - believed to have been a work reward - when the chopper went down in rugged terrain at Carlton Hill station and exploded on impact.

Kununurra police went to the site yesterday and confirmed that all the men in the aircraft, all in their 20s, had died in the crash. Police are due to return to the site today with air safety investigators.

It was not known what caused the crash.

The chartered aircraft had left Kununurra at 5.15am for a fishing trip at Cape Domett in Cambridge Gulf, 100km to the northeast.

It was about 80km into the return flight when the crash occurred.

Heliworks was established by Kerry Slingsby in 1984, with seven Bell helicopters and a fixed-wing aircraft.

Mustering cattle was the mainstay of its early operations until tourism took off in 1990 with flights over the Bungle Bungles.

The company has two modern facilities at Kununurra airport and has won successive WA Tourism Awards since 1996.

Source (http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,7811110%255E421,00.html)

Poor conditions hamper WA helicopter crash probe
Difficult terrain and bad weather may hamper the investigation into a helicopter crash near Kununurra in Western Australia's far north.

All four people on board were killed when the helicopter crashed, about 23 nautical miles north-west of Kununurra about 10:30am AWST.

It is understood the charter flight was returning from a fishing trip.

People on board a second helicopter travelling with the group witnessed the crash and have been interviewed by Kununurra police.

Police spokesman Andy O'Neil says investigators have had trouble reaching the crash site.

"The area itself is very rugged, they haven't been able to get to it by vehicle, there's storms approaching so they've had to sit tight on it at the moment and we're waiting for Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators and the police forensic officer to attend Kununurra tomorrow and they'll continue the investigation," he said.

All four people killed in the crash are believed to be local residents.

Mr O'Neil says the crash has been a shock for the town.

"[It's] believed all the people were ... local residents - the names haven't been released as yet because we're still contacting family members," he said.
source (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s985155.htm) with basic map

[overpitched]

It is a big loss to a small town and a very sad day for Kununurra. Kim Rankin was kerry Slingsby's step son and I am sure he will be deeply missed. I have heard (second hand) that the helicopter went into a spin before hitting the ground mid flight.

[Heliport]

Very very sad.

For non-Oz members :

http://www.west-oz.com/Images/Whereis/map_kununurra.jpg - - http://www.staywa.net.au/accom/region/kimberley/kimb_pics/kimb_map.gif

Kununurra is a small town in Western Australia's Kimberley Region, one of the world's last great wilderness areas.
Bush, mountains, deep gorges and fewer people per square mile than almost anywhere in the world.

[overpitched]

Thanks for the map Heliport. And for a bit of extra background information. Kununurra is a long way from anywhere with a population of about 6000. It has quite a large pilot population with a lot of young pilots working their way up. This year has been quite a bad one for accidents in the area :

Cessna 210 wheels up landing
Cessna 310 ran out of fuel on finals (wrong tank selected)
R44 engine failure(cause unknown at this stage)
and yesterdays R44 crash.

Fortunately no one had been hurt up until yesterday. It is a good thing that this year is nearly over

[headsethair]

from The West Australian:

CELEBRATED aviation operator Kerry Slingsby lost pilot and stepson Kim Rankin in a helicopter crash that killed four people north of Kununurra in the Kimberley.
Mr Rankin, 26, knew his Robinson 44 aircraft was in trouble moments before it plunged to the ground and burst into flames in remote bush on Saturday morning.
The disaster was the culmination of a fishing trip that took two parties of local people in two helicopters to Cape Domett in the Cambridge Gulf.
It is understood that moments before the impact Mr Rankin radioed words to the effect: "I am going to hit hard."
Occupants of the second helicopter saw him come down on Carlton Hill cattle station owned by media mogul Kerry Packer's Consolidated Pastoral Company.
Pilot Kim Rankin was the son of Dusty Rankin, who is understood to have died in 1985 when training another pilot in a Bell 47, the type of aircraft made famous in the MASH television series.
His widow, Pat, later married Mr Slingsby, who runs WA's biggest private aviation business, Slingair Heliwork WA, with a fleet of 50 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. He has won numerous tourism awards.
Two air safety investigators flew to the crash scene yesterday and will work closely with police assisting the coroner to determine reasons for the disaster.
They hope to drive out today to examine wreckage situated about 35km north-west of Kununurra. Bad weather may delay inspection.
Police have not formally released names of the dead because the charred remains could not yet be identified. The bodies were recovered from the station yesterday.
Sgt Rod Boehn, of Kununurra police, said the town was shocked by the deaths of four locals. Three of them aged 21 to 62 were understood to work for the Ord River District Cooperative.
"It's going to take some time for the people of this town to get over it," he said. "They were very well known, very popular people."
It is understood one of the pilots was concerned about not being able to return to Kununurra because of thunderstorms.
An experienced pilot said helicopters could get caught in a downwash in a thunderstorm and forced to the ground.
Alan Stray, deputy director of air safety investigation for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, expected the engine and other components would be removed for examination.
It was not known if the engine was running at the time of the crash.

_

[overpitched]

Well I guess if you saw it on tv it must be right

[Heliport]

Latest reports
Monday, November 10

Forensic police and air safety investigators got through to examine the charred wreckage today.

A second helicopter had been travelling about a minute behind but its occupants did not witness the accident. The pilot alerted authorities when he realised the first helicopter had crashed.

The bodies were recovered from the crash site yesterday (Sunday) after police managed to get four-wheel drive vehicles close to the area, which is in rugged country characterised by rocky outcrops and gorges.

[GoNorth]

It is understood one of the pilots was concerned about not being able to return to Kununurra because of thunderstorms. An experienced pilot said helicopters could get caught in a downwash in a thunderstorm and forced to the ground.


Was flying at the same time and I don't remember seeing a cloud in the sky. Was CAVOK at 10:30

[Chairmanofthebored]

"From what I have heard, Kerry Slingsby is a really good guy and He has alot of time for new pilots."

yeah...KS has a lot of time for new pilots cause he pays them **** and treats them like ****. Nothing like making your fortune off the desperation and hard work of others.....

It is unlikely that the WX was embedded with cells. As Go North said there were none around and they usually show in the avo anyway. It is never frontal and they are easy to dodge around.

[Giovanni Cento Nove]

Chairman,

My my, what large testes you have!

Most new pilot's don't know sh1t, can't fly for sh1t and yet expect to be paid like sh1t. It takes quite a time to elevate to the level of sh1t.

Now, as a chairman you must know that the single reason for going into business is to give someone a job. I want to know which company doesn't, or would not if they could "make a fortune off the desperation and hard work of others".

Do you even know what money is for?

KS is in the business of giving people jobs, how else would it happen? He would appear to have larger cojones than even you! After all it is his tin or he is responsible for someone else's who may even keep one of those cojones in a jar somewhere for a little bit of security!

Right now your respect for him seems to be fairly low and his for you is, under the present circumstances, probably significantly less than zero. I would hope, for your sake, he doesn't track you down and either a) enlarge your testes even more with a boot or b) remove one and place it in a jar just so you know what it feels like, yet without the prospect of it ever being returned.

[HFT]

I don't wish to make specific reference to this accident only say that on my last r44 100hry the tail rotor pitch control bearing was rather dodgy, hours and maintenance are all 100% on this machine and Frank has an AD on this bearing replaced with a new type. But the degree of roughness in it was alarming and had developed in 287 hrs being the time since last 300 hrly,check. If this bearing seized I would imagine a certain amount of spinning would ensue. Condolence to the families

[the wizard of auz]

sincerest condolances to kerry and family, banjo and company, and analiese, who I know will be in a mess about all of this also to families of the pax.
you guys wanna have a bit of respect and reframe from the snide comments about people involved in this tragic event. :ugh:

[Hughesy]

I had previously made a post saying that I heard that KS was a good guy, and had alot of time for new pilots, giving them that all important start. It seems some people had a few issues with that so I deleted it. I didn't mean to start arguements over my thoughts. I apologise If I have Pi**ed anyone off.
As I had already said, my condolences to friends and family of the crew involved.
Hughesy

[Chairmanofthebored]

No apology necessary Hugh,

Firstly, My condolances to all those related to these deaths. No offence intended by my comments as they are unrelated to the incident.

Simply my opinion about the facts outback.

KS has made his fortune off the backs of young men. The main reason for business is not to give someone a job but definately to make money. The only reason for giving away those jobs is because new pilots are desperate to get anything. Been there done that. If all his pilots stopped work tomorrow for a pay increase do you think they would still have a job? KS is laughing all the way to the bank cause his hourly rate isn't any different to anyone else but his labour costs are half or less.

Good luck to him. If we are all stupid enough to let these guys walk all over us then so be it. Just dont laud them for taking advantage of us.

Working outback is all about **** machines and dodgy maintenance. I wonder how many hours this machine has flown with the clock disconnected.....

Giovanni: when your posts start to make sense; come on back to the forum and chat. I was in the outback when you where still inside....so pull your head in. My respect for these legends of the outback is rationalised by plenty of time spent working for them outback and a realisation that they are mostly full of ****. They don'tfly well, flog machines, overload, raise insurance rates by pranging regularily (which makes it hard for new blokes to crack in) wouldn't have a ****ing clue about G loading, aerodynamics and a zillion other damaging flight characteristics they expose their machines too.

When you have a few hours you will understand exactly what I am talking about.
:bored:

[the wizard of auz]

that maybe the case, I'm not disputing that, but this is hardly the time or place.

[Chairmanofthebored]

........point taken Wizard.
:bored:

[Giovanni Cento Nove]

Chairman,
I'm impressed, only been here 5 minutes and you have appointed yourself the moderator. Maybe you had trouble getting a job simply because of your personality i.e. not only are you a crap pilot but an a/hole at the same time! But that's nothing new.

I must admit it was 1986 when I last flew in that area, and mentioning R22 was still blasphemy.

As for hours - what's that got to do with it? What in your small mind is enough?

I still hold ATPL/CPL in 3 different countries, LAME in 4 different countries, have some experience in about a dozen different types, 4 of which are twins, have flown in about 20 different countries with only about 8000 hours. Chicken manure compared to others here in this forum.

"No offence intended by my comments as they are unrelated to the incident."

Took the words out of my mouth - why not start another thread to show you have some respect. Shouldn't take you more than a week to work out. Heres the subject for you - "Working outback is all about **** machines and dodgy maintenance" and while your there how about a dissertation on your experiences as PIC of the Bell 412 with Auto Hover (evidently).

See a doctor beforehand though, it would appear that the swelling in your testes has migrated to your head!

[Chairmanofthebored]

Gio mate!
seems we got off to a bad start. how could i confuse someone living in TI for someone of your legendary status. **** so sorry. as for 412's. great big piles of ****e. i will stick with my 64 thanks. why dont you start a thread on the outback maintenance since you are a lame. perhaps your lame background can explain why so many of my mates are dead thanks to those arseholes.
Oh....PS: wipe your nose .... you still got **** on it
:bored:

[pohm1]

Chairman,

Why not try to use evidenced arguments rather than childish insults. If you look through most of the PPRUNE threads you will find that there are always differing opinions from those that post here, but nearly all are well informed and maturely written.

You may be mistaking this site for justhelicopters.

[cows'n'fish]

My sincere condolences to Pat, Kerry & Family. Also to Banjo and the guys at Heliwork and Slingair
I can only apologise for some of the comments placed here by other people. As the Wizard said definately the wrong time and place.
I did hear yesterday that there was a m/r blade problem, not 100% sure as to what yet.
Its been a very bad year for Kimberly aviation.

[Time Out]

Findings
1. The R44 departed cruise flight in a descending right turn approximately 17 minutes after take off from the Cape Dommett area.
2. The R44 first contacted trees at a height of 36 ft AGL.
3. The R44 was approximately 27 kg over the MTOW for the helicopter type at impact.
4. The R44 centre of gravity was outside the forward limit for the helicopter type at impact.
5. The accident was not survivable.

The full report is here (http://www.atsb.gov.au/aviation/pdf/200304546.pdf)

[overpitched]

I can't get the link to work. The link from the atsb site is not working for me either.

Was the c.o.g. blamed for the accident ???? Sounds a bit simplistic. A good percentage of Kimberley flights would be conducted overweight and out of c.o.g.

[Heliport]

Time Out's link works for me.

It's a pdf file which needs 'Adobe Reader'.
If you haven't got it installed, you can download it free from the link below or from hundreds of places on the net.


http://www.coralind.com/images/getacro.gif (http://www.adobe.com.au/products/acrobat/readstep2.html)

[Texdoc]

Time Out's posting is pretty much it as far as overall findings.
So they really don't know what happened, but reading the report the most likely scenario appears to be engine failure/power loss and a hard landing from auto in inhospitable, unforgiving terrain.... RIP all.

[overpitched]

It was and is a sad loss. Reading between the lines on the accident report it is very frustrating the way the management can and does encourage pilots to break the law for the sake of money and when things go wrong sit back and point at the company ops manual as proof that the company was doing the right thing but the pilot wasn't following procedure.

[UNCTUOUS]

R44 Accident Kununurra

http://www.atsb.gov.au/aviation/occurs/occurs_detail.cfm?ID=591

Apologies if there's a thread on here already on this accident. Had a good look and couldn't see one.

The R44 would appear (from the manufacturer's Warnings in its own flight manual) to be a very marginal machine - i.e. to say very unforgiving and capable of biting lethally merely through transitting through a strong willy willy (aka thermal).

I must admit that I've never had any of those type reservations or apprehensions in Hueys or Squirrels, including in IMC. Perhaps I just led a sheltered life.

[2Sticks]

Here's a link to the existing thread:
link (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=108227&perpage=15&pagenumber=1)
2S

[Graviman]

"The R44 would appear (from the manufacturer's Warnings in its own flight manual) to be a very marginal machine..."

Can this be said of teetering rotor machines in general, or is it particular to the R44?

Mart

[overpitched]

Graviman.

I'm not a big fan of the R44 at all but in this case I don't think the problem was the aircraft type. Reading the report you come up with

Very low time pilot, hot day, overloaded aircraft, 500 feet agl, hostile terrain. There was no finding of an engine failure but with this combination of factors it MAY have only taken something quite simple such as a governor failure, or just a warning light illumination to start a chain of events that rapidly got ahead of the pilot.

He was flying with very little experience in a situation that had very little margin of error. If the low rpm horn came on, for example, for whatever reason, by the time he lowered the lever and tried to sort the auto out he would have been almost on the ground.

Given the circumstances I think that whatever aircraft he had been in the result may have been the same.

[RobboRider]

Unctious

merely through transitting through a strong willy willy (aka thermal).

I think you have got your definitions a bit awry. A willy willy (AKA Dust Devil) is not just a "thermal".
A big Willy willy is basically a small tornado without necesarrily having the storm clouds etc over the top of it.

The horizontal components of the wind can be 50 plus knots over a very short distance with sudden wind shear in the opposite direction of equal speed. Crossing through one is not just catching a thermal it's more akin to passing through a horizontal micro-burst.

I have seen them pick up bits of corrugated iron, branches and plenty of dirt/dust and take them up several hundred feet.