A109E accident in Dallas - no injuries

[Shawn Coyle]

A109 from Careflight had an accident at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, TX where somehow the transmission was torn from the mountings on the ground. No one was injured, and aside from the transmission lying on it's side with two blades till attached, the airframe appears to be in very condition.
This will be an interesting one to watch developing.
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/6255692/detail.html for at least one picture.

[MD900 Explorer]

****, that must have been a hell of a wind that just managed to blow the transmission out of it's box, and left the A109E standing...:eek:

Has there been previous cases of airframe fatigue before in the A109E? Not being an A109 pilot, nor having any knowledge on type i would not know.

Just wondering why Pilot Ken Arnold, ? filming above in Chopper5 (unless that was careflights callsign) was able to take shots from above and not be on the ground either?

Like Shawn Coyle says....should prove interesting reading.

Glad the Careflight was left standing and the patient and crew were no more injured .:)

MD :sad:

[Ned-Air2Air]

So that is how many Powers Careflight have lost since they got them, must be about four isnt it. :eek:

[Shawn Coyle]

I know everyone is going to look at this as yet another A109 crash - but (and I can say this now and not be accused of being a company man, because I don't work for Agusta anymore) there is no consistent string of any technical issues with the machines. Different, and from what can be gathered, non-technical issues with all of the recent US accidents (last year or so).
Agusta doesn't appear to want to stand up and say anything too loudly in public, which I think is a shame.

[BlenderPilot]

Another weird incident happening to an Agusta . . . .

In September when I attended factory training for the Agusta I was really excited about the helicopter, and the training.

As time has progressed I have come to be a little disapointed of the helicopter it has a lot of quirks that the Agusta calls "normal", I hate that.

I am very meticulous about the aircraft I fly, I don't like parameters that act funny, weird vibrations, and I hate the fact that for many questions even Agusta doesn't know the answers to many things about the aircraft.

Also the factory training was what I would call below standard for such a helicopter.

But hey, its a huge seller around here, so I might as well get used to it!!

Here is a pic taken at the hangar on Sunday, all A109 POWER's with 4 of them being only a few months old! And a few more on the way.

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PPRuNe/AgustaHV.jpg

[alouette]

Firstly, Thank God nobody sustained injuries or died.

But as always the media assumes and pretends to know the outcome prior to a full scale investigation. "Chopper pilot Ken Arnold seems to know exactly what happenend". My, my...

[Vfrpilotpb]

May be a hard thing to answer, but will this craft be repaired or reduced to salvage, it looks a little more than "Part Worn".

Vfr

[Bitmonx]

Let's hope it was ground resonance. Anything else could have caused it to come appart in mid air......

[PPRUNE FAN#1]

Hmm, now "Chopper Pilot Ken." Now there's an expert's expert. "That's right, Suzy, high winds may have caused this accident. These things are awfully fragile, you see. Sometimes high winds can cause the transmission of a helicopter to break completely off!"

Sheesh.

There was an A109 that came apart in NYC once. Everyone knows that a flat landing gear strut can cause ground resonance. In the case I'm thinking of, a mechanic had inadvertently over-serviced a gear strut so that it was as solid as Iraq. Puzzled, the poor pilot tried to set it down a couple of times, but every time that left-rear wheel touched the ground the machine would start a-shakin' and a-wobblin' and he'd snatch it back into the air. I guess he got fed up, because he finally just planted it and bystanders hit the dirt as parts started flying. Odd.Shawn Coyle:
I know everyone is going to look at this as yet another A109 crash - but (and I can say this now and not be accused of being a company man, because I don't work for Agusta anymore)...Wh-wh-whaaaaat!? I know that we helicopter pilots have a reputation as a bunch o'gypsies, but what's with the job-hopping, Shawn? I mean, I usually keep up on these things but I must have let my sub to R&W lapse.

[PANews]

I guess MD900 Explorer's comment about the wind causing the accident [and who knows it was not the wind?] may have been reasonable comment on the early news reports appearing on the net that sought to make a link between alleged windy conditions and the outcome. That speculation appears to be missing in later reports.

On the face of it the circumstances do appear very different from the recent [December] German BK117 accident where again the top half parted company with the bottom half. But if the outcome of that 117 accident might eventually be put down to the 'drive train' coming to a sudden halt during the known/proven impact with parts of a building it may be worth speculating that perhaps something 'stopped' up top again this time on the 109 .... engine/gearbox? That would of course be far more worrying than the speculated 'best option' of ground resonance.

[fishboy]

Maybe the wind WAS a factor.......If the fuel truck got a little close!

[Biff Tannen]

"CareFlite Helicopter Loses Rotor Blade"

That's a bit of an understatement....:)