What would you do..

[magbreak]

If you were informed you aircraft had hit a tree by ATC would you:

a) continue, board your pax and depart using the phrase "It'll be alright I'm not going far"

b) Shut down have a look to make sure it's all OK then continue

Answers on a postcard to...

[magbreak]

It didn't actually happen to me. I stood and watched it in disbelief (it wasn't a small tree!!), then phoned ATC where the incident happened..

[Hilico]

Come on, Mag, you're making a point aren't you?

[paco]

Shut down and call and engineer?

Which part hit?

Phil

[ThomasTheTankEngine]

Hi Paco

A tree engineer or heli engineer :O

I would also shut down and call the engineer, I hit a few pigeons a few years ago on take off, Put 2 big dents on the underside of each main rotor (Fist size) Better safe than sorry.

[magbreak]

No point to make.

Just after some opinion on what others would have done. Several of us stood there not believing what we'd seen and the aircraft just departed without shutting down for a look at what damage had been done (if any), but surely better to check than to assume.

The main blades hit the tree.

[BlenderPilot]

I once saw a C-130 hit the rudder of an ATR72 with its wing tip as the C-130 was taxing to an active runway, the C-130's Nav light fell to the ground, and the ATR had a "bite" in its rudder as big as watermelon,

Now once this happened, someone ran out of the C-130 with the engines still running, looked at the wingtip, picked up the broken nav light and ran back into the aircraft . . . . .
About 3 minutes later after taxing to the active, the C130 was airborne.

I have video I got with my handicam of this incident as it happened.

[hemac]

It amazes me there are so many lunatics out there who are prepared to go air-borne with an even greater possibility of the piece of tin they are travelling in falling apart.
There must be some sane Helo drivers out there. Or am I just a coward?

H.

[Jed A1]

Call an engineer.

Take the rest of the week off.

[Heliport]

hemac

A sweeping response for someone who's been learning to fly helicopters for almost two weeks. :confused:

[VeeAny]

Magbreak

Wasn't Tuesday afternoon was it ?

Personally i'd go with the shut down and call an engineer option, assuming the type wasn't cleared for tree cutting !

V.

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

Anyone seen that giant pink tree, in the middle of the open field down by the M23/M25 junction? Wierd !!

[magbreak]

May have been!!:O

[Vankem Spankfaart]

Mr Squirrel,

It's red and it's art. The little Spankfaarts want it redone in purple next.

The Red Tree (http://66.98.164.56/pics/view_album.php?set_albumName=album01)

V

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

Well it looks pink from 1500' !!

[VitaminGee]

......and what colour do you perceive the fields to be?

VG:D

[treadigraph]

Thans for the red tree thing, I had been wondering...

[The Rotordog]

There is really only one answer to this question; the pilot has no choice. Here's what the U.S. FAA says about it:Sec. 91.7

Civil aircraft airworthiness.

(a) No person may operate a civil aircraft unless it is in an airworthy condition.
(b) The pilot in command of a civil aircraft is responsible for determining whether that aircraft is in condition for safe flight. The pilot in command shall discontinue the flight when unairworthy mechanical, electrical, or structural conditions occur.Does "hitting something" equate to loss of airworthiness? I think it would be successfully argued by the FAA (in their certificate action against the pilot) that once he became aware that he'd hit something with his aircraft, he could not be certain that the aircraft was still airworthy. Therefore, he would require him to land. Further, it would be a weak argument for the pilot to state, "Well, yeah, I knew that we hit something, but I was sure it didnt cause any structural damage."

[hemac]

Heliport

A sweeping response for someone who's been learning to fly helicopters for almost two weeks.

A sweeping response, how so?

I don't think pilots have exclusive right to common sense, in fact from some of the posts on this forum it appears that a lot of them are devoid of it.

I would like to think that when I have been flying for years and have thousands of hours in my log book I would still have the smarts to realise that having just hit something in my aircraft it might be a good idea to at least check it before taking off, if at all.

I hope you have too.

H.

[212man]

Maybe it was this guy doing some freelancing on his days off:

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=170302

:uhoh:

[aeromys]

Gosh! Nice tree. The London Air Ambulance could perch in it and no-one would know.
I think the CAA should encourage this sort of thing as navigational aids.

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

yeah, but let's try and not put the next one right next to the spaghetti junction of the south !!

[vorticey]

leaves - no worries
twiggs - mmm...
sticks - little dents
branches - big dents
trees - break things
ive had a bit of leaf action getting in or out of tight spots but shut down and had a look each time (unmistakable flying in rain noise, chick, chick, chick), so far just two little MR dents and a dead kookaburra. (the kookaburra went through the tail rotor while hot refueling so i shut down to inspect and there was no damage to the machine, however the kookaburra was unservisable).

:ok:

[Dynamic Component]

vorticey,

I'd say you're lucky there was no damage to your TR:D
What where you flying?

[Heliport]

hemac


A sweeping response, how so? Since you ask ...

"It amazes me there are so many lunatics out there who are prepared to go air-borne with an even greater possibility of the piece of tin they are travelling in falling apart."
Are there "so many lunatics out there"? :confused:
What's your basis for that proposition?
What you've read on this forum?
Or what you've learned in your 15 hours as a student pilot?

"There must be some sane Helo drivers out there. Or am I just a coward?"
Some?
I've no idea if you're a coward. I doubt if many helicopter pilots are. The overwhelming majority are extremely safety conscious, have a healthy respect for the potential risks and do everything possible to minimise them. I don't regard that as cowardice, just plain common sense.

Heliport

[hemac]

Heliport

I seem to have upset you from what was supposed to be a light hearted posting.

I have started using smilies so that the slightly more uptight users of this forum are not offended by posting from mere amateurs like myself:{

By the way it's 16 hours now.:ok:

H.

[B Sousa]

"If you were informed you aircraft had hit a tree by ATC would you:"

If I had to depend on ATC to tell me I hit a tree.............
1. I shouldnt be flying
2. How the hell did they know I was that low
3. Test the skids to see if they are still there
4. Park at the far end of the ramp before I tell the boss........
5. Attempt to explain what tree parts were doing at 1000' AGL

[Ascend Charlie]

Errrr... Boss, I've had a birdstrike.

Unfortunately, it was asleep in its nest at the time....:O

[Gomer Pylot]

Some of us are saner than others. I know of one pilot who had a MR strike on a tanker, offshore, and continued to fly the a/c for at least 2 weeks before having the damage inspected. The ship was immediately grounded, and the entire drivetrain replaced. The strike was reported to me by one of the passengers, who subsequently flew with me while the blade strike ship was grounded. That company was a subsidiary of a company in Connecticut, and is no longer doing business down here, fortunately.

[giveitsome]

Hemac, with due respect 'Get Some Time Up!!!!". Seems strange that you were quick to be critical about other folks command decisions when you have no real command yourself.

You will find that most will agree with the fact that if you bump into things you would get the ACFT inspected prior to launch, however there is a time and a place for cyber biff. The peope you throw stones at today may be your boss tomorrow, so take a humble pill. Better to be quiet and thought an idiot than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

IMHO

GIVE IT SOME

:cool:

[hemac]

Oh dear another one.:eek:

[Flying Lawyer]

hemac

One of the many good things about this forum is that, although most contributors are professional pilots, PPLs and student pilots are made welcome and there's no division between pros and amateurs. We all get along very well together.
Experienced pros willingly give their time helping the less experienced of us and, on the very rare occasions a pro makes a critical comment to or about an inexperienced beginner, it's almost always deserved. IMHO, for someone who's only had a few flying lessons, you've made some rather curious comments on various threads.
You couldn't find anywhere else, on or off the web, where there is so much helicopter expertise and experience in one place - and it's free. You might want to consider taking advantage of it. Winding people up might give you some short-term pleasure but, IMHO, you'll gain more in the long term if you take advantage of the enormous breadth and depth of talent available to you here.

Your choice of course.

FL

[hemac]

Flying lawyer

I fully accept and understand your post.

As I previously stated my original post was intended to be a light hearted enquiry/comment, it was never intended to offend anybody.

I unfortunately went on the offensive when it was suggested that because I am not an experienced pilot (something which I am very open about) my opinion was somehow not valid.

I agree with you whole heartedly that this forum is an excellent medium to gain knowledge and experience first hand from people working in the aviation industry, and I have a great deal of respect for all the members.

Perhaps my humour is ahead of it's time:D