Rescue Helicopter Crashes at ski resort

[skydriller]

Ive just seen the story on the news here, looks like a squirrel from the wreckage seen on TV.

Four apparently killed, May they RIP... <img src="frown.gif" border="0"> <img src="frown.gif" border="0">

. .:-. .Horrified skiers watch rescue helicopter crash in French resort . . . .mardi 19 février - 19h38 . . . .GRENOBLE, France, Feb 19 (AFP) - Skiers in a popular French mountain resort looked on in horror Tuesday as a rescue helicopter clipped a cable and crashed metres (yards) from a crowded restaurant, killing all four on board.. .Officials said the victims were a 49-year-old Dutch woman who was being flown off the ski slope after injuring her back and three French rescue workers -- a member of the ski patrol, the pilot and the co-pilot.

The accident happened at lunchtime during the school vacation period, a short distance from the packed restaurant and ski lifts in the resort of Flaine in the southeastern Haute-Savoie region of the French Alps.

"The helicopter only just missed the establishment. He (the pilot) must have sacrificed his life and those of his passengers to avert disaster because there was a lot of people on the terrace," the owner of the Chalet de Bissac restaurant, Claudine Descombes, told AFP.

Local mayor Marc Iochum also praised the "extraordinary cool-headedness" of the pilot, who was in his forties.

The resort is popular with skiers from across Europe and witnesses said the mountainside was busy at the time of the crash because of fine weather.

"We heard a loud noise and we turned and saw the helicopter out of control and heading literally to the restaurant," said Fabrice Abgrall, a vacationing radio journalist who was eating lunch with his wife and children on the terrace at the time.

"It finally crashed just next to us, 20 or 30 metres away," he said.

Regional state prosecutor Vincent Le Pannerere said the privately owned helicopter hit a "catex" cable used to transport explosives used to set off controlled avalanches just after collecting the injured woman.

An investigation has been opened to determine whether the pilot, who was very experienced, had failed to notice the clearly marked cable or whether a mechanical malfunction caused him to lose control of the helicopter.

A makeshift chapel was set up at the crash site for the victims, identified as Dutch citizen Maureen Hoenders-Apon, pilot Patrice Couturier, co-pilot Pascal Bourgeonnier and ski patrol member Emmanuel Monin, who was in his twenties.. . . .<a href="http://www.tf1.fr/news/monde/0,,890293,00.html" target="_blank">www.tf1.fr/news/monde/0,,890293,00.html</a>

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I read this report with great sadness - I was skiing in Flaine last week and commented to my wife that the guy in the twin squirrel was not leaving himself any margin for error in the way he was setting up his approaches.. .I was on a drag lift when he got the rotors within 20 feet of the cables in the middle of a split-arse turn on to finals giving it lots of angle of bank and blade slap.. .If it was the same guy who crashed this week, then I am not surprised, only saddened that I did not go and have a word with him about toning down his flying a little.. .Flight Safety never goes away.

[RW-1]

Crab,

Sorry you have those feelings about not speaking to him earlier, if he is the pilot in question.

I have been in the same spot a couple times in both the Navy and a civilian pilot.

However I have found that one time I was with a friend of mine who actuall asked me to stand with him as he had one of those conversations with someone he was concerned about, my feeling is that unless you are a close personal friend or have financial influence over him, it doesn't do much good, my friend was given grief for even broaching the subject, etc.

(anyone else have a tale where the outcome was better?)

It is sad none the less, my condolances to the pilot, victims family's, etc.

[ 22 February 2002: Message edited by: RW-1 ]</p>

[Heliport]

[quote]If it was the same guy who crashed this week ..........<hr></blockquote>. .Very sad for the pilot's family and friends to read these comments.

And, if it wasn't ..........?. .Very sad for the pilot's family and friends to read this.

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Heliport,. .yes I thought about that before I posted but it is also possible that 3 innocent people lost their lives through indisciplined flying. It may well be that the crash investigation proves mechanical failure or another cause but the flying I saw in the resort was not professional.. .I will gladly apologise if I am mistaken and it was a different pilot but the families and friends of the passengers also have a right to know why their loved ones died. I hope the crash investigation is swiftly concluded and pray that I am wrong in my assumptions.

[cyclic flare]

Crab

Your probably more experienced than most in mountain flying. ive flown that basin where the chopper crashed. The elevation there is 5000ft. with nowhere to go. The twin S is extremely under powered and has to circle to get out. Just maybe there's at little more to flying in that area than you understand. The chopper hit a cable and the rotor detached very sad for all concerned.

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Cyclic Flare - 5000 DA is hardly the edge of the flight envelope even for a twin Sq, but the guy I watched was not short of power or performance - he was just wazzing. His standard approach to the HLS(which I saw at least 10 times during the week was a dive to the corner of a wood just above a drag lift then a quickstop of a sort normally associated with Bessbrook Mill. He favoured the 'over the shoulder' transition to forward flight on departure from the HLS and never circled once to gain height - he just pointed straight at the mountain and hoped to outclimb it.. .Now there is nothing wrong with enjoying your flying as long as it is only you that you put at risk - I suggest a busy ski resort during school half term is not the best place to showboat your skills.. .A most unfortunate accident whatever the cause.