R44 crash at Rand airport

[mkenya]

A robinson 44 helicopter just crashed at Rand airport a few minutes after take off.
Operated by Track it.
Apparently two persons on board burnt to death on crashing.
God rest their souls in peace

[mkenya]

just established that it was actually operated by netstar

[Flatdog]

It's an R44, operated by Netstar.

FD

[boertjie]

Do anyone know who was the pilot?

[Chopper 1]

Does anybody have more details on what actually happened, eye witnesses etc.?

[fokkengatvol]

Seems lady pilot (Kekana) took off, lost hydraulics and main rotor struck Hangar 33 after just missing the Hangar Cafe. Anyone confirm?

[boertjie]

Sounds with name like that it is black lady????????????
Is that one of Eiskoms pilots?????:ugh:

[Airtracker]

Yes, it was one of the black lady pilots from Eskom

[CXtreme]

Seems lady pilot (Kekana) took off, lost hydraulics and main rotor struck


Way to early to make any claims, is it not?

[jimmythegong]

difficult to say what happened, but we witnessed the start of the sequence of events leading up to the crash. We were sitting at the Harvard cafe when we heard someone shout to watch out! This R44 seemed to come off the ground in a very erratic fashion, heading for the Harvard. It then made a steep turn to the right and disappeared behind flippie's hangar, where we lost sight of it.Couple of seconds later we heard the impact, as it crashed on to the tarmac outside Tom Willow's hangar and burst into flames. He grabbed a fire extinguisher to try to help, but says he could not get close because of the heat. Sad story and condolences to relatives and friends.

[Mad Mac]

Two good people die for a stolen car! Doesn't seem right somehow! Not sure what went wrong but sounds like Hydraulic failure of sorts. Guess we'll have to wait & see the outcome.

Just a bit concerning that the machine burst into flames!

RIP - J & PJ.

[goatherd]

Very sad news, but you don't crash a chopper just because you lost hydraulics, it is still very flyable, maybe something else?

[lombard]

Don't you think that a helicopter with 3/4 tanks of avgas would ignite somewhere along the line when it crashes? :ugh:

[segunaremo]

Please can you tell me whats re name,does she train at 43airschool then flying for eskom.

[rockpecker]

From a local Sunday newspaper (Afrikaans)

http://www.news24.com/Rapport/Nuus/0,,752-795_2316056,00.html (http://www.news24.com/Rapport/Nuus/0,,752-795_2316056,00.html)

http://www.news24.com/Rapport/Nuus/0,,752-795_2316055,00.html (http://www.news24.com/Rapport/Nuus/0,,752-795_2316055,00.html)

[razorback]

Tragic accident. Looks like it was the cumulation of a chain of events...

[Just a job]

Just for information Lombard, i`ve was an ATC for 10 years before flying for an airline and during those years personally witnessed somewhere in the region of 15-20 accidents.Some fatal,some not-all disturbing to see actually happen.Out of these accidents one resulted in fire(well,an explosion really-the Imp that had structual failure at the Lanseria airshow-i was working at the time of the crash),sure ,a sickening thud(which you do hear from inside a tower)and a lot of dust/debris but not necessarily fire.Sure,of course it happens but nowhere near the amount that the movies would have us believe.So not such a stupid comment from Mad Mac as your reply to him would seem to indicate.:=

[JetPark]

When I was involved with this type of operation one hundred and plenty years ago, I used experienced Pilots for good reason. The desire, however, to win the bid for such contracts, sometimes clouds the judgement relating to appropriate payment of Crew. (Keep it cheap to to win the bid) This is a demanding role. I am not saying that the Pilot was inappropriate for the role - I am not in a position to pass comment but I suspect this would have been a wake up call for many prospective Operators.

RIP

[Bredrin]

In this day and age I would assume that the R44 had rupture resistant /self sealing tanks. The old Bells had them in the 1960s