Air Sober
14th Aug 2005, 00:37
I have not seen anyone reporting this accident on this forum before, so just to let you know that a Sikorsky S76C+ (reg OH-HCI), owned by a Finnish company Copterline, crashed on Wednesday 10th August a couple of minutes after departing Tallinn Estonia. It carried 12 pax (six Finnish, four Estonians and two American citizens) who all died. Also the co-pilot died.
At first it was presumed that there were 14 casualties total, but since the other 13 were found (inside) and after the turning & lifting of the helicopter they were not able to locate the captain after all. They are now searching for him or his corpse both above and under the sea and the nearby islands. The wreck of the copter has been transported to Tallinn Ulemiste airport for further investigation.
The corpses of the victims have today been brought to land, too, and their names have also now been released.
Quite a lot of speculation and not-so-correct information has been published on the news for the last four days both in Estonia and Finland. Many officials have been keen on announcing their own ideas of what might have happened, which has naturally produced confusion, and it has been difficult to tell between "hearsay" "wronghear" and "true" information.
Also the head of Copterline Oy Kari Ljungberg has had a massive amount of time and space to present his own thoughts of what has in no way happened during the flight. Today he has made new announcements about things relating with the rotor (being a fixed wing bloke myself I don´t know all the terminology concerning helicopters), based on the information he says he´s gotten from someone who is investigating the case...
And tonight (Saturday) the attorney Andres Ulviste in Estonia said that they refuse to send the information from the CVR and FDR to the United States for the aircraft is manufactured in U.S.
The first report of the accident will be ready by 10th September. Full report will be announced after a year.
read more (in English) on Copterline Oy´s web page www.copterline.com, for example:
Press Release 11.8.2005
(clip)
Both the Finnish and the Estonian officials have participated the tough rescue operations at sea. The crash helicopter has been found, the divers have erashed it and according to the latest information have begun lifting the victims out of the helicopter and to the surface. According to the Estonian Chief of Police, Robert Antropov, the rest of the victims will be out today.
Copterline has no information of the reasons behind the crash. The helicopter was in excellent technical condition, the crew was exceptionally experienced and skilled and the weather conditions were quite usual for a helicopter. Mr. Stephen Goodall, a representative of the helicopter’s U.S. manufacturer, Sikorsky Aircraft corporation, arrived to Helsinki to investigate the probable causes of the crash and traveled to Tallinn in the afternoon with a Copterline flight to assist the Estonian Police.
Copterline is certain that further information about the crash will be available as soon as the helicopter has been successfully lifted from the bottom of the sea and the recorded flight information as well as cockpit recordings have been investigated.
Both the crew and the passengers were insured according to the legislative and aviation licence requirements. Also the helicopter was fully covered.
(clip)
Press release 10.8.2005
A Copterline helicopter on its normal route between Helsinki and Tallinn crashed into the sea near Tallinn today. Inside were 12 passengers and two crew members. Copterline expresses its deepest condolences to the families of possible victims.
The flight from Tallinn to Helsinki departed on schedule at 12.30 pm. According to yet unconfirmed information from the National Board of Aviation, the connection was lost at 12.40 after which the helicopter fell into the sea. The crash took place in horizontal flight, at normal altitude. The weather at the crash area was windy but quite normal and safe for a helicopter. The company has no knowledge of the cause of the crash or the course of events.
The helicopter was an American Sikorsky S76C+ and it was built in 2000. The model is one of the most used and safest ones in the world. It has two engines and can be flown and landed safely by using only one of them. It also has two emergency pontoons for landing on water. The helicopter was last inspected on 9th of August, 2005 and no faults were detected. The last 50 fly hour service had been carried out on July 21st, 2005 in Finland. The annual service was carried out on June 20th, 2005. The helicopter had 6253 flying hours before the crash.
The captain of the helicopter was an extremely experienced 41-year-old former captain of a frontier guard rescue helicopter, who has been serving at the Finnish Frontier Guard for over 20 years. The copilot was a 57-year-old, extremely experienced professional which had been with Copterline since 1995. Both pilots had effective helicopter pilot licences, which met every licence condition.
The personal information of the passengers can not be released. There were six Finnish, four Estonian and two American passengers on board. Both pilots were Finnish.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes that all information requests by the families would be made to the Central Police, phone number 09-8388 6766.
*
pictures of lifting of the helicopter on Saturday morning:
http://www.iltalehti.fi/2005/08/13/200508120123100_uu.shtml
more pictures and articles (in Finnish) on the right hand side (highlighted in blue) of the above mentioned page - on the left hand side of the page only the usual murders, rapings, possible execution of Saddam Hussein, and how it has been raining for the whole week here in Helsinki now that we got the bleeding championship games...
reporting out now,
A.S.
p.s. also found this on CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/08/10/estonia.copter.ap/index.html
At first it was presumed that there were 14 casualties total, but since the other 13 were found (inside) and after the turning & lifting of the helicopter they were not able to locate the captain after all. They are now searching for him or his corpse both above and under the sea and the nearby islands. The wreck of the copter has been transported to Tallinn Ulemiste airport for further investigation.
The corpses of the victims have today been brought to land, too, and their names have also now been released.
Quite a lot of speculation and not-so-correct information has been published on the news for the last four days both in Estonia and Finland. Many officials have been keen on announcing their own ideas of what might have happened, which has naturally produced confusion, and it has been difficult to tell between "hearsay" "wronghear" and "true" information.
Also the head of Copterline Oy Kari Ljungberg has had a massive amount of time and space to present his own thoughts of what has in no way happened during the flight. Today he has made new announcements about things relating with the rotor (being a fixed wing bloke myself I don´t know all the terminology concerning helicopters), based on the information he says he´s gotten from someone who is investigating the case...
And tonight (Saturday) the attorney Andres Ulviste in Estonia said that they refuse to send the information from the CVR and FDR to the United States for the aircraft is manufactured in U.S.
The first report of the accident will be ready by 10th September. Full report will be announced after a year.
read more (in English) on Copterline Oy´s web page www.copterline.com, for example:
Press Release 11.8.2005
(clip)
Both the Finnish and the Estonian officials have participated the tough rescue operations at sea. The crash helicopter has been found, the divers have erashed it and according to the latest information have begun lifting the victims out of the helicopter and to the surface. According to the Estonian Chief of Police, Robert Antropov, the rest of the victims will be out today.
Copterline has no information of the reasons behind the crash. The helicopter was in excellent technical condition, the crew was exceptionally experienced and skilled and the weather conditions were quite usual for a helicopter. Mr. Stephen Goodall, a representative of the helicopter’s U.S. manufacturer, Sikorsky Aircraft corporation, arrived to Helsinki to investigate the probable causes of the crash and traveled to Tallinn in the afternoon with a Copterline flight to assist the Estonian Police.
Copterline is certain that further information about the crash will be available as soon as the helicopter has been successfully lifted from the bottom of the sea and the recorded flight information as well as cockpit recordings have been investigated.
Both the crew and the passengers were insured according to the legislative and aviation licence requirements. Also the helicopter was fully covered.
(clip)
Press release 10.8.2005
A Copterline helicopter on its normal route between Helsinki and Tallinn crashed into the sea near Tallinn today. Inside were 12 passengers and two crew members. Copterline expresses its deepest condolences to the families of possible victims.
The flight from Tallinn to Helsinki departed on schedule at 12.30 pm. According to yet unconfirmed information from the National Board of Aviation, the connection was lost at 12.40 after which the helicopter fell into the sea. The crash took place in horizontal flight, at normal altitude. The weather at the crash area was windy but quite normal and safe for a helicopter. The company has no knowledge of the cause of the crash or the course of events.
The helicopter was an American Sikorsky S76C+ and it was built in 2000. The model is one of the most used and safest ones in the world. It has two engines and can be flown and landed safely by using only one of them. It also has two emergency pontoons for landing on water. The helicopter was last inspected on 9th of August, 2005 and no faults were detected. The last 50 fly hour service had been carried out on July 21st, 2005 in Finland. The annual service was carried out on June 20th, 2005. The helicopter had 6253 flying hours before the crash.
The captain of the helicopter was an extremely experienced 41-year-old former captain of a frontier guard rescue helicopter, who has been serving at the Finnish Frontier Guard for over 20 years. The copilot was a 57-year-old, extremely experienced professional which had been with Copterline since 1995. Both pilots had effective helicopter pilot licences, which met every licence condition.
The personal information of the passengers can not be released. There were six Finnish, four Estonian and two American passengers on board. Both pilots were Finnish.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes that all information requests by the families would be made to the Central Police, phone number 09-8388 6766.
*
pictures of lifting of the helicopter on Saturday morning:
http://www.iltalehti.fi/2005/08/13/200508120123100_uu.shtml
more pictures and articles (in Finnish) on the right hand side (highlighted in blue) of the above mentioned page - on the left hand side of the page only the usual murders, rapings, possible execution of Saddam Hussein, and how it has been raining for the whole week here in Helsinki now that we got the bleeding championship games...
reporting out now,
A.S.
p.s. also found this on CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/08/10/estonia.copter.ap/index.html