Man Jumps From Helicopter And Survives - NOT

[Autorotate]

Man plummets to his death from Grand Canyon helicopter.

A passenger aboard a helicopter touring the Grand Canyon on Thursday jumped to his death in an apparent suicide.

Rachel Wilkie, account executive for Papillon Airways Inc., said a male passenger requested a window seat before takeoff.

As the helicopter hovered 500 feet above Dripping Springs along the Canyon's South Rim, she said, "He removed his own seat belt, opened the passenger door and jumped."

The victim's name, nationality and age were withheld Thursday until relatives could be notified.

Brenda Halvorson, Papillon's president, said the pilot and five other passengers were shaken but unharmed.

Papillon identifies itself as the world's largest helicopter sight-seeing company. The National Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.

[karrank]

Well, amazing! Somebody on a SCENIC flight requests a window seat. What could they have been thinking of?

Maybe pilot with face of Klingon and breath of dogfood FRIGHTENED poor pax out of un-natural type flying egg-beater???

He could have done it cheaper in fixed-wing.

Perhaps unkind but I've been drinking for many hours, and still remember with dread my helo flight over the GC.

[B Sousa]

Dam........Neville where were you and your camera. What a shot. Wonder if he went for water or was dirt diving.

[SASless]

Smashing way to go!:ok:

[Lu Zuckerman]

What a way of avoiding tipping the pilot at the end of the flight.

For what ever reason may he rest in peace.

:E :E

[Bravo 99 (AJB)]

Papilon dont seem to be having much luck at the moment did they not have one A/C go down recently.
Tragic for all concerned even though suicide

RIP

Sincerely

Bravo 99 (AJB)

[Watchoutbelow]

Rest In Pieces :E

[Genghis the Engineer]

Tragic for all concerned
Well, presumably all but one, for whom I assume the outcome was satisfactory.

G

[RDRickster]

It's too bad that he didn't just break the bones in all of his limbs... Then, we would have the privelage of paying for his medical care, legal fees, incarceration, and years of psychotherapy. Afterwards, he probably would have sued Papillion for not putting child-proof locking mechanisms on the doors!

[WestWind1950]

is this suddenly JetBlast or what? I'm surprised at you all... :bored: it's really nothing to joke about....

I'm sure he had sad reasons for doing this.... now there will be more reprecutions for all involved... perhaps now "child" locks on doors to keep them from being opened in flight!

Sorry, but I have lost at least 2 friends (that I know of) through suizide, one was a pilot... sad for all involved...

Westy

[Bravo 99 (AJB)]

I agree with you west wind 1950

you loose a few close to you in circumstances like this, and it alters your thinking.

as previous
RIP

Andy


Bravo 99 (AJB)

[autosync]

I'm sure he had sad reasons for doing this....

Nah screw that, personally I think Suicide is the cowards way out, however my opinion aside.

Think of trauma that the pilot and passengers are suffering after witnessing the incident.
They probably didn't know the guy, or what his problems where but its something that they won't forget it in a hurry, a selfish act.

So if he doesn't care about his life, or the life of others, I don't think people can get on a moral high horse for having a laugh at his expense!

As for child locks, it would never sell, Helicopters can be tricky enough to exit, they don't need any extra complications to get out in an emergency.

[B Sousa]

AutoSync is right:"So if he doesn't care about his life, or the life of others, I don't think people can get on a moral high horse for having a laugh at his expense!"
Idiots like this dont care if others are hurt either. He could have fallen on some hiker.

[Dave_Jackson]

http://www.unicopter.com/Temporary/DropInSometime.gif


http://www.unicopter.com/Temporary/KnockedOut.gif hiker

[blave]

This is exactly why I have been lobbying for an FAA/JAA requirement that all seats in a helicopter that is used for scenic flights must be center seats. We must protect the public from itself! Lives are at stake! Someone might get hurt again!

Dave Blevins

[WestWind1950]

So if he doesn't care about his life, or the life of others, I don't think people can get on a moral high horse for having a laugh at his expense!

It’s not a matter of being on a “moral high horse”. When a person is in this stage of depression, he is egocentric and doesn’t consider anyone else… in fact, he often thinks he’s doing everyone a FAVOR by leaving this world. You see it in cases where fathers murder their kids when his wife leaves him…. he honestly thinks he’s doing the kids a FAVOR!! And he certainly doesn’t consider the impact on the other people involved, the passengers and crew, or the rescue workers that have to scrape his remains from the bottom of the canyon.

Sorry, but maybe I’ve had too many close experiences with friends who committed suicide and seen too many dead people after a crash. A close friend of mine, whom I had known for 20 years, died last year in a glider crash. I was at the crash scene and his body was nothing but mush. Soon the rumours started…. he had found out that he was developing heart conditions and would possibly not pass the next medical. The autopsy proved that partly true. He may have suffered a heart attack while on downwind, or he may have purposely aimed toward the ground… we’ll never know for sure. All we know is, he was in a double seater and was doing the necessary 3 landings for the 90-day reg and his passenger was on the ground waiting for him. He may have felt chest pains and made a sudden suicidal decision or maybe he couldn’t avoid it (his right arm was found in a stiff outstretched position….) Not being able to ever fly again could trigger a suicidal reaction in some people…. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Sorry for writing a novel … but in the rumours section there is a thread going about getting Pprune back to a “professionals only” forum. It is being argued that the niveau has dropped and would be better if only “professionals” were able to write. I don’t agree, and the poll shows that most users want things staying as it is. I assume that most of the contributors here are “professionals” (whatever that is… ;) ), yet I found the answers here more fitting for JetBlast and not fitting of “professionals”…. Sorry, it’s just my opinion. Like I said, maybe I’m just too sensitive to such a subject.

Westy

[Heliport]

Arizona Daily Sun Passenger: Pilot of suicide flight saved our lives

A quick reaction by the pilot to the sudden weight shift caused when a man leaped from a sightseeing helicopter 4,000 feet to his death Thursday saved the lives of the others on board, according to one of the passengers.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Los Angeles man who came to tour the Grand Canyon with his girlfriend told the Daily Sun that after the man jumped out of the helicopter, the female pilot had to keep the helicopter from losing control. She operated a tour for Papillon Airways.

Because the helicopters are balanced by weight, the quick loss of a passenger caused the aircraft to veer sharply, creating the potential for a crash.
"We all thought we were going to die," the passenger said in a phone interview. "The helicopter tilted when he went out the door, and the air came rushing in."

He said the pilot managed to get the helicopter under control, pulled the headset -- worn by the man who jumped -- back into the helicopter and secured the door. She then returned the tour to the helicopter landing area near the South Rim without further incident.

Reports also show she attempted to prevent the passenger from jumping.
"She was a really great pilot," said the man from L.A. "I think we owe our lives to her."

As for the passenger who jumped from the helicopter to his death, the Los Angeles man said that he "seemed perfectly normal and quiet." He estimated the man was in his mid-20s, and he believed he was on the tour without any other friends or relatives.
When he unbuckled his harness and exited the helicopter in mid-flight, the man said, "there was just total and utter disbelief. I thought, 'This can't be happening.'"

The interviewed passenger said he was sitting on the opposite side of the helicopter in the back seats. He watched the man who jumped go past the window.
The passenger guessed the man jumped over the deepest part of the canyon, and estimates of his fall given by the National Park Service Friday put it at about a 4,000 feet.

Papillon declined to release further information Friday. "Right now they're focusing on providing information" to the proper authorities, said Rachel Wilkie, spokesperson for the company.

Authorities found the body in the Canyon near White's Butte Friday around noon. The body was turned over to the Coconino County medical examiner, according to Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Leah McGinnis.

McGinnis said the passenger could not be identified on the scene, and she said they probably will not have positive identification until Monday at the earliest. She did not offer any further details of the incident.
"Right now they are calling it an apparent suicide, but it's still under investigation," McGinnis said.

The Federal Aviation Administration will no longer participate in the investigation because the Papillon Airways pilot tried to restrain the man, said FAA spokesman Mike Fergus.
"The pilot didn't do anything wrong," Fergus said. "They didn't know he was going to commit suicide."
Anyone know the 'female pilot'?

[Bravo 99 (AJB)]

Fair play to the lady she did a great job in the true spirit of aviation.


Well done for here efforts.



Sincerely

andy

Bravo 99 (AJB)

[WestWind1950]

News clip from last Friday...

PHOENIX -- A helicopter tour company said a man took off his seat belt, opened a door and intentionally fell to his death during a sightseeing flight over the Grand Canyon National Park Thursday.

Authorities say the investigation of the man's death continues. They've offered few details on what led up to his exit from the helicopter about 90 miles northwest of Flagstaff, Ariz.

The man fell about 4,000 feet.

Officials don't know if the man had any connection to the others on board the helicopter. The pilot and four other passengers were shaken by what happened but weren't hurt.

Authorities say the cause of death won't be determined until the body is recovered from White's Butte.

yeh right.... :uhoh:

Westy

[Hughesy]

Well done to the pilot for keeping her cool and maintaining control of the helicopter, especially in an event like that.
Good effort:ok:
Hughesy

[Autorotate]

What do they mean they wont know what caused his death until they recover the body. DUH

I would think that hitting the ground after falling for 4000 ft would have had something to do with it.

Ned

[Dantruck]

Oh come on Ned. "Don't come the raw prawn with me"...as I believe our Australian cousins are fond of saying.

For those still truly wondering: 'Cause of death' is a BIG pronouncement in the legal sense. All sorts of things, mostly monetary, depend on the outcome; including life assurance pay-outs, will resolutions, death benefits, inheritence taxes, death duties, etc, etc. And many of these can be altered if suicide is later judged to have been a factor.

Seriously though, the poor bastard must have been at the end of his tether to feel a need to end it all...by whatever means. Guys! spare a thought for his turmoil, his family, and maybe his friends. Indeed, nothing is worse than knowing you were close enough to maybe know, yet distant enough to have maybe made a difference.

The victims of suicide are more than legion. There but for the grace of god, etc...

Good on the pilot for such a professional job in difficult circumstances. Well done, says I.

Dan

[Heliport]

Associated Press report Man who jumped to death from helicopter identified

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK - Authorities on Monday identified a tourist who jumped to his death from a Grand Canyon tour helicopter as a 25-year-old from Illinois.
The man was identified as Timothy Clam, said park spokeswoman Leah McGinnis.

McGinnis said Clam was sitting in the copilot's seat Thursday when he unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door and started to jump. She said the pilot struggled to keep Clam in his seat while maintaining control of the helicopter.

But Clam managed to jump, and the pilot had to pull Clam's headset back in the helicopter and shut the door, McGinnis said.

Clam fell 4,000 feet to his death in steep terrain near White's Butte, about 90 miles northwest of Flagstaff.

McGinnis said the pilot and four passengers, all unrelated to Clam, were shaken by the incident, but none were injured.

Officials are calling the death an apparent suicide, but are still investigating.

[Steve76]

...I would've asked him to take the headset off and close the door on the way out.

[MD900 Explorer]

Good skills to the pilot there. :ok:

I can't imagine what kind of post traumatic stuff she went through, but it must be bad news!! Man i **** myself once when the door opened up, when i didnt lock it properly, and i had no intention of jumping out :{ :{

As for the bloke who jumped, may he rest in pieces :E

I have a sneeking suspicion that the post mortem result will be:- The man died instantly on impact from massive acceleration/deceleration injuries fuelled by suicidal thoughts :confused:

MD :sad:

[2beers]

I've read an article on Papillon some time ago and I recall that they have a very efficient system for getting correct weight & balance. If that guy was in the rear seat of a Long Ranger and the fuel was at it's critical point, the helicopter might end up with a CG that is out of range. And by not understanding how a helicopter works he ended up jeopardizing other peoples lives.
I have no idea if it was a LR, but just food for thought. One other thing that a 206 isn't too fond of is the lateral loading of the guy standing on a skid and jumping off.
Regardless of the helicopter type, my hat (headset) is off to the pilot.
:ok:

[ossie_lation]

You don't mean that in a jet ranger that only the rear centre seat could be used surely! That will make it a cost effective scenic flight!!!!

[2beers]

Why do you think R44's are selling so good? :)

Anyway, I had an instructor that had plenty of people jumping out of his 206 on numerous occasions. These guys always wore parachutes though... The instructor told me that if the parachutist pushed off the skid the bank angle of the helicopter would afterwards reach up to 90 degrees. He also told me a story about an aussie police 206 that ended up doing a barrell roll because the guys jumping off (one each side) both pushed of and timed it wrong (first one, then the other). He could be pulling my leg, but I don't think so.

The teethering rotorhead has a disadvantage and that is its vulnerability to side-loads.

But I could be wrong, it has happened before... :O

[John Eacott]

2 beers,

That was one of my 206's, flown by a police pilot :rolleyes:

We were parachuting all day, 2 helicopters, and one of the loads on their second or third jump, failed to follow the brief. Brief is always step, don't jump from the skids, equal dispatch from each side.

So when the two on the left side push themselves off, and the two on the pilot's side stay on the skids, there tends to be a fairly uncontrollable lateral imbalance :eek: The pilot elected to roll with the problem, and the two on his side departed at an unknown point - no idea how they avoided the blades, and they didn't know there was a problem!!! Mast inspection and $5k later, the helicopter was cleared as serviceable.

Solution? We now never, ever go parachuting with the right rear door off in a JetRanger: all despatches are from the left side only, and if it delays the drop, so what - pay more and take the BK117 with the capability to cope with both doors open :ok:

Another problem are the jumpers with flags + ballast, who weigh in >100kg. That can also create a fair old lateral shift, even with the most experienced parachutist and pilot.

[Nigel Osborn]

John

You trusted 4 PC Plods to do the same thing at the same time????:ok:

[John Eacott]

Nigel,

1 PC Plod as driver, 4 geriatric parachutists from a sports event in Melbourne. Along with the 100 other geriatric jumpers who managed to get it right :rolleyes: