Heli down in Finke (Incl pics)

[masteroff]

Just heard on the news that a B206 carrying out a medivac has gone down at Finke during the Desert race. Has anyone got any more info?

[imabell]

i think the finke race was last week and there has been no news of any helicopter prangs.

[sling]

ABC Report (Tuesday 9.05am)
ALICE SPINGS

"Emergency landing prompts safety investigation"

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating an emergency helicopter landing at the Finke Desert Race in central Australia yesterday afternoon.

The helicopter was carrying a paramedic and injured race competitors when it suffered engine failure about seven kilometres from Alice Springs Airport.

The pilot was able to safely land the chopper and no-one suffered any further injuries in the incident.

The safety bureau has not sent any investigators to the site and is waiting for a report from the helicopter's operator before filing a report on the incident.

[Autorotate]

Where the heck is Finke.

[Nigel Osborn]

A beautiful small town on the railway line south of Oodnadatta with 1 pub and a few houses and very friendly people.:O

[Rotor1]

Finke is 113nm south east of Alice Springs

25 36.00 S
134 34.00 E

From the finke desert Race website...
The Tattersalls Finke Desert Race is arguably Australia’s premier off road racing event. It has built a compelling reputation over 29 years as being both challenging and pure excitement. “The Finke” as it is known, is now one of the biggest annual sporting events in the Northern Territory. It is recognised as the richest Off Road Race in the Southern Hemisphere with the added reputation of being one of the most difficult courses in one of the most remote places in the world.

The Finke is a unique event in that it enables people of all walks of life to become involved. Rarely would you find an event that has 400 competitors racing over a 460km course that is open to all comers. It really is the most fun you can have with a helmet on!

The race started in 1976 as a “there and back” challenge for a group of local motorbike riders to race from Alice Springs to Finke and return. Finke was a small community on the Old Ghan railway line situated about 230kms south of Alice Springs. After the success of this initial ride, the Finke Desert Race was born and it has been held annually on the Queens Birthday weekend ever since.

The race is run along sections of what was the Old Ghan Railway service track adjacent to the railway line along a winding corrugated track, which snakes through typical outback terrain of red dirt, sand, spinifex, mulga and desert oaks. Even though the railway was realigned and rebuilt in the early 80’s, with the old tracks being pulled up, the race continues along its original course.

Whilst originally the Finke was only a bike race, it’s increasing popularity saw the inevitable introduction of cars and off road buggies in 1988. A fierce rivalry developed between the two and four wheelers, as the buggies were keen to claim the holy grail of the race – outright winner. For 11 consecutive years the bikes were too quick for the cars despite constantly narrowing the gap. Finally in 1999, a buggy came home first to claim the money. With the bikes winning back the title in 2000 and 2001, the rivalry is as intense as ever.

hope this helps Rotor1

[B Sousa]

Sounds like somthing I would expect to see Mel Gibson involved in...............
Thunderdome Lives

[Capt Hollywood]

Here's the story,

We had two Bell 206 aircraft working on the Finke Desert Race, one in a media role and the other in a medivac role.

At this stage it appears the engine to main rotor transmission driveshaft on the medivac aircraft broke at the transmission end of the shaft. Bear in mind the driveshaft has only been sent away for examination today so why it broke is yet to be determined.

The pilot has done an amazing job. He managed to put the aircraft down with minimal impact damage after avoiding disused telegraph lines and has even gone to the trouble of missing all the trees and shrubs as well! The pics below will give you an idea of the terrain, whilst not mountainous or heavily wooded, the larger trees will still ruin your day at the end of an auto!

Cheers,

Hollywood :cool:
http://www.danodwyer.bigpondhosting.com/photos/56097989e90bc88f9f165d41c73c8816.jpg

http://www.danodwyer.bigpondhosting.com/photos/eed4d013abb98974c5338bc34fb78a15.jpg

http://www.danodwyer.bigpondhosting.com/photos/4c74bbf0bbae2590518ae2ea35b1922e.jpg

[Heliport]

Thanks to Rotor1 for describing the Race
and
to Capt Hollywood for the info and pictures.

Well done the pilot. :ok:

The race sounds like fantastic fun.
Here's a picture of one of the competitors
- taken by NT police!

Car 1181 approaching Deep Well at 195 kph
http://www.finkedesertrace.com.au/pictures/g102.jpg
For British and American members, 195 kph = 121 mph!

First Quad across the line on Day 2
http://www.finkedesertrace.com.au/pictures/g105.jpg

First bike across the line on Day 2
http://www.finkedesertrace.com.au/pictures/g104.jpg


Good to see police speed guns being put to good use. :D

[Vfrpilotpb]

If that pilot can get to Sydney within the next three weeks my eldest son will buy him a pint and I will hire him to fly my son around, with skill like we see in that placement of the 206 in those pictures even my wife would feel safe with him,

Well done Pilot, what a guy!!

Peter R-B:ok:

[helimatt]

Damn tidy bit of flying. Well done that man:cool: :ok:

[Hughesy]

Damm fine effort from the pilot, with all the scrub and wires around, and to get it down sweet, great stuff!
:ok: :D
Hughesy

[John Eacott]

Terrific job by Guy: no wonder he had a few bevvies that night ;)

Especially as he was 500 feet inbound to the Alice, with 4 injured bike riders on board. Bet they had second thoughts when bits of drive shaft started whirling around a foot above their heads, and the trees started getting bigger :ooh:

:ok: :ok:

[Helisurfer]

Guy you old son of a gun! Well done, top effort.

I noticed you put it next to a great tree to get some shade while you waited for Hollywood to show up with the camera and even next to some telephone wires so you could call for the taxi to take you to the pub, Good thinking!

Have a well deserved beer mate:ok:

[pohm1]

Another pilot landed at the scene and offered the paramedic a ride. The paramedic politely told him he wasn't getting in a helicopter unless Guy was flying!

Good on ya Guy! ;)

[imabell]

hi hollywood,

i'm interested to know if the main engine drive shaft broke???

or the front flexible coupling failed????

imabell

[John Eacott]

Graham,

From what I've been told, the Kaflex let go at the coupling(s). Much damage, not pretty :(

[Capt Hollywood]

imabell,

At this stage it appears the coupling has let go, the actual shaft is still intact. It is being sent to the ATSB today for examination.

Cheers,

Hollywood :cool:

[Nigel Osborn]

I can't believe how he managed to miss all the branches, especially with his tail rotor. Definitely a top job.

Wonder if he would like to try for the best of 3?:ok:

[the wizard of auz]

Well done that man!!!:ok:
Great result from a potentially disasterous situation.

[Mogg]

Thanks lads for your kind words.


And thankyou Scotty for getting me down.


Cheers Guy
:cool: :E :cool:

[belly tank]

Great Effort Guy!!

Its great to see a happy ending to a potentially disastrous situation....i guess now comes the part of getting the machine out of there and into the shop!

well done all the same

BT

[John Eacott]

Guy,

Just a thought, but how did the tail rotor drive behave with a broken Kaflex? If you can remember, that is!

ISTM that you'd still be driving the tail rotor from the engine gearbox, but with the engine (possibly) overspeeding, the TR thrust must have been a tad erratic, and awkward to anticipate?

Again, well done :ok:

[Mogg]

John,
When it did let go she yaw to the left I kicked in right boot,
And she straighten up right away
From what I can remember the over speed governor cut in,
And my tail rotor was being driven from the engine gearbox.
So I had good tail rotor control


Luckily I did not wind the throttle off. :ooh:


Cheers Guy :cool: :E :cool:

[that chinese fella]

Well done Guy,

Is the overspeed governor a new modification on an Allison 250?

Can you remember what speed the N2/Nr stops at?

[Mogg]

Whoops!!!!!

Mental note....do not post on pprune when sober.

What I was trying to say was that when the drive shaft let go the engine went to overspeed but the governer kicked in!! Thanks Aladinsane for pointing out my typo!!

Cheers
Mogg

[Capt Hollywood]

Unfortunately a rumour has circulated amongst the local tour operators in our region that the aircraft ran out of fuel. The majority of our business comes from these operators so we've had to go into damage control and advise our clients of the actual cause of the accident. It's always a shame when a good story gets in the way of the truth!

Closer examination of the aircraft over the weekend has revealed more damage than first thought. When the coupling broke and flailed about it damaged the engine intake area and debris was ingested by the engine. There are also a couple of punctures in the roof which may necessitate replacing the roof over the pax cabin.

Here's the broken driveshaft!

Cheers,

Hollywood :cool:

http://www.danodwyer.bigpondhosting.com/photos/d280bbe866a42e9b9b0cde226cbb7a94.jpg

http://www.danodwyer.bigpondhosting.com/photos/7bb3dcef6feae775103283c52872b3a1.jpg

http://www.danodwyer.bigpondhosting.com/photos/57157305a80c0e14a6b2bb3fabbefec1.jpg

http://www.danodwyer.bigpondhosting.com/photos/83d878406b2a2de7abd79880bb24ba97.jpg

http://www.danodwyer.bigpondhosting.com/photos/eb56912da0d57a7b67acb4663ee35c59.jpg

[belly tank]

Hollywood,

Wow, that is a huge failure!!......im glad everyone got out ok!

i dont expect you to know this, but ive been entertaining the thought of a K-FLEX on our 206. What was the TTIS of this coupling if you have an idea, again i dont expect you to know off the top of your head just in case you know. im curious!

cheers

BT

[Capt Hollywood]

belly tank,

I don't know the exact TTIS for this particular shaft. Kaflex driveshafts had a 4500hr life which apparently got extended to 6000hrs a little while ago. I don't believe this shaft had reached the 4500hr mark yet.

Cheers,

Hollywood :cool:

[the coyote]

Yep, sure looks like fuel starvation to me!

No prizes for guessing where that rumour came from old son?

The man deserves nothing but praise, not a kick in the teeth like that. Whoever started that one really needs to sit down and have their head read, and I hope they realise that it is a good way to swing some bad Juju upon themselves.

Well done Guy, put me down to buy you a pint next time we cross paths. That must have made a hell of a noise at 6000 RPM or so eh?

And good luck with the politics Hollywood, if anyone can sort those fun and games out you can!

Kahoona.

[Angrypalmtree]

Well done Guy......says a lot about the clowns that taught you. Me being one of them. Will be in the row to buy you a beer next time we catch up.

L

[that chinese fella]

Sorry to hear that you guys are copping a bit of negative vibes about all this. The tour people should be happy knowing their punters are flying with capable pilots who can deal with serious problems.

As an aside, from my distant memory banks, the PTG bleeds off Py air pressure (to tell the FCU to whoa back on the fuel flow) at 112% N2. The published overspeed limit for N2 is 120%.

As coyote said, I am sure their will be some DPoD gold flowing down at the strip.

[Capt Hollywood]

Dearest Kahoona,

I don't think the rumour was started deliberately, more of a case of Chinese whispers I'd say. Things have changed a little since you were here old chap, sometimes we even talk to the 'other guys'!

We think we have found the source of the rumour and have informed them of the cause of the accident. They were quite apologetic when they realised what a rumour can do.

Cheers,

Hollywood :cool:

[ground effect]

angry palm tree, please check your private messages:ok:

[the coyote]

Good to hear relations have improved since my departure. My scathing presumptions are withdrawn with apologies.