Mi-8 hit by avalanche: just bad luck?

[skadi]

Just in the Newsticker:

Mi8 was buried by an avalanche just after landing with 14 german snowboarders in Kamchatka/Siberia. At least 7 dead, the others severely wounded.

A helicopter carrying 19 people that went missing earlier Saturday in the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's far eastern region had been hit by an avalanche after it landed, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The Mi-8 helicopter has been found from the air on a hill slope in Kamchatka's Yelizavetinsky district, and rescuers saw live people at the site, Sergei Viktorov, spokesman of the far eastern branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry told Itar-Tass.

The 16 tourists on board have been confirmed Germans, the spokesman said.

Nine people have been removed from the helicopter, among who one German tourist and the pilot's grandson were in serious condition and had been transported to a hospital nearby, an Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman said.

"Rescuers have been able to remove nine people, seven of whom are in satisfactory condition and two of whom are seriously injured and are being taken by helicopter to a hospital in Yelizovo," the spokeswoman Natalya Lukash told the RIA Novosti news agency, adding she had no information on the remaining passengers and crew on board.

Earlier on Saturday, the helicopter with a flight crew and 16 tourists on board failed to make radio contact after 13:00 Khabarovsk time. Search operations were immediately started.

Source: Xinhua

Missing Russian helicopter hit by avalanche after landing - People's Daily Online (http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/6946319.html)

skadi

[S76Heavy]

Might be a helicopter induced avalanche..lots of downwash and noise (vibrations) that can cause the snow to slide.

[206 jock]

This doesn't seem to have attracted much attention to Pruners (a thread about a bloke walking down the street in a jacket attracted more interest!): but still, people from close to home for any Europeans were killed in a helicopter accident.

Further report: Snowboarders killed in avalanche - Europe, World - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/snowboarders-killed-in-avalanche-1942120.html)

Snowboarders killed in avalanche

By Shaun Walker in Moscow

Monday, 12 April 2010



Relatives of ten people, most of them German snowboarders, who were killed by an avalanche in Russia's remote Kamchatka region at the weekend are expected to arrive at the scene of the accident today.
The ten died when the helicopter carrying them was hit by an avalanche after landing on a ski slope on Saturday. The alarm was raised after their helicopter disappeared from radio contact and a search operation was launched. The Mi-8 helicopter had been carrying 18 people, including 12 tourists from Germany and Belgium, on an extreme heli-ski trip, and had landed at the top of a slope. When rescuers arrived they found that the helicopter had been completely crushed by the avalanche and carried more than 200 metres down the slope. Two of the three crew members died, while one miraculously survived and was cut from the wreckage.

All the snowboarders had left the helicopter at the time of the avalanche – eight of them were killed, and one was seriously injured, while five were rescued unharmed. The local authorities said that the avalanche contained around 2 million cubic metres of snow, and was most likely set off by the snowboarders moving down the slope.

Kamchatka is a sparsely populated peninsula dotted with pristine lakes and active volcanoes in the Far East of Russia, thousands of miles and eight time zones away from Moscow. Every year it attracts a small number of Russian and foreign tourists seeking extreme adventure. It is perhaps the only place in the world where it is possible to ski down the edge of an active volcano while looking out over the ocean. Tourist companies based on the peninsula say they accept only extremely competent skiers and snowboarders .

Despite the fact that the peninsula is roughly twice the size of Britain, there are few populated points outside the capital, Petropavlovsk, and most transport around Kamchatka has to be done using an aging fleet of Mi-8 helicopters.

There were two teenagers on board the helicopter – a 13-year-old German boy and the 15-year-old grandson of the captain. The Russian boy died, while the German survived but lost his father to the accident. The bodies of the victims are expected to be transported to Moscow tomorrow.




Having been heliskiing in Russia (albeit to the Caucasus rather than Kamchatka), I can't quite get my head round this. When we went, SOP was for skiers to jump out, helo would depart to a 'safe' location, skiers would ski down, helo comes and picks 'em up. So if the skiers were out and skiing (ski-induced avalanche) and the helo buried, is the SOP in Kamchatka to fly to the bottom?

OK details are sketchy, but this is the most comprehensive report I have seen so far. Anyone know any more?

[paulbyrn]

I have talked to a couple of the people involved. The group of skiers and boarders, including their guides, were skiing on the slope, having been dropped by the helicopter. Two members of the group were above the slide. The helicopter was at the bottom of the intended run with three crew on board, and was out of sight of the skiers. As far as I understand it, the avalanche was huge, across a very broad front, and travelled a considerable distance, reaching the helicopter pickup point, and carrying the helicopter 200 metres or more. I presume that the pickup point was not considered to be on an avalanche run-out.

[206 jock]

Thanks: makes interesting reading. The pilots I flew with in Sochi seemed to be well on top of the risks and opportunities they faced: perhaps the Kamchatka guys will now review their ops to ensure that they are well away when stuff like this happens.

RIP to those who didn't make it, but what if some of those killed could have been saved if the helo had got them out, let alone the unfortunate crew who perished? For off-piste skiers, avalanches are an ever-present danger, no matter how much experience and planning you put in. But the remoteness and circumstances of this accident are troubling - not good for Russian off-piste ops reputation, that's for sure. and these guys are running the 2014 winter olympics...

[206 jock]

I know i keep bumping this but I just came across this report from last week:



The Civil Defence Ministry, reporting on Saturday's incident in which 10 persons were killed, said the skiers caused the avalanche and that the helicopter which had brought them up the mountain the Kamchatka peninsula region was not affected.
"A helicopter set the group down on the slope and then flew to the valley," the ministry said, according to Interfax. "At the point of the avalanche it was sitting at the foot of the mountain."
Initial accounts on Saturday had said that the Mi-8 helicopter had also been struck by the avalanche.



I find it interesting, anyway.