Greenville US: MD-500 crash; 2 unhurt

[Time Out]

Helicopter crashes; 2 unhurt
Posted Sunday, November 16, 2003 - 1:02 am

By E. Richard Walton

A helicopter on a training flight crashed in the woods in Piedmont following a suspected malfunction Saturday.

Two men aboard walked away from the mishap unhurt, authorities said. The helicopter was an MD-500 type and had just taken off from the Greenville Downtown Airport when it plummeted at 10:15 a.m., said Master Deputy Mike Hildebrand.

The crash site was near Old Pelzer Road and Blue Ridge Aviation.

Hildebrand said EMS checked the pilot and a second man in the helicopter.

"They don't have anything, not even a scratch," he said at the site.

The names, ages and addresses of the two men in the craft were not released.

Hildebrand said FAA, which controls aircraft, arrived at the crash about 2 p.m. and was conducting an investigation.

Glenn Counsil, president of MG Aviation, which trains people to fly helicopters, said the men were on a training flight.

"The guy did a fantastic job of flying it," he said. "Two people walked away."

He said he was awaiting the outcome of the FAA investigation.

Counsil said he suspects the tail section may have malfunctioned. "The tail came off the helicopter," he said.

He described the McDonnell-Douglas helicopter as one used in warfare 40 years ago.

"It's an old military trainer used in the Vietnam War," he said. "It was converted to civilian use."

Source (http://greenvilleonline.com/news/2003/11/16/2003111619145.htm) with picture of helicopter nose down in woods.

[Time Out]

Helicopter pilot saw tail fly past
Posted Monday, November 17, 2003 - 1:51 am

By Paul Alongi
STAFF WRITER

The helicopter's tail flew past the window as Jordan Gipe struggled to keep the chopper from spiraling nose-first into the ground.

A weekend training flight had taken a frightening turn and left the 23-year-old instructor fighting for his life in an aircraft that was spinning out of control.

Somehow, Gipe bought the MD-500 helicopter down into some pine trees, saving the pilot he was training, and himself.

"Miraculously, neither one of us even got a scratch," Gipe said Sunday.

A crane plucked the helicopter owned by MG Aviation out of some trees in Piedmont on Sunday and took it to a warehouse, said Glenn Counsil, the company's president.

A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the Saturday morning's crash is under investigation.

Gipe said that just before the wreck he was near Donaldson Center, training a pilot who wants to become an instructor.

The trainee had been practicing a maneuver that even experienced pilots find difficult, Counsil said.

In the exercise, pilots fly as high as 1,000 feet, then cut the power and try to land safely, he said.

"It's a very advanced maneuver," Counsil said. "There's a lot that can go wrong."

They completed the drop several times, but Gipe said he believes that on one occasion the rotor blades may have flopped down and hit the body of helicopter.

The pilots didn't know anything had gone wrong until they started heading back toward Greenville Downtown Airport.

The helicopter jerked, Gipe said, and he took the controls from the trainee. The chopper began to spin.

Gipe said he didn't have time to think, only react.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he watched the tail fly past the window.

"It's just, 'Oh God,'" Gipe said. "It's not a good feeling."

Momentum carried the helicopter toward the woods, Gipe said. He said he managed to keep it level until it hit the trees.

The chopper ended up crashing nose first into the ground.

Counsil said the crash could've turned out much worse.

"For them to walk away without a scratch," he said, "they had to do everything perfect."

source (http://greenvilleonline.com/news/2003/11/17/2003111719178.htm)

[Lu Zuckerman]

Surviving this crash had to do with three elements.

1) Good pilotage
2) Good luck
3) The design of the fuselage on the H-500. There were pilots in Vietnam that were in worse crashes and survived because of the fuselage structural design.


:E :E