Bankstown Burnt helicopter

[catseye]

anyone with more details on this accident??
Chopper crashes at Bankstown (http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/chopper-crashes-at-bankstown-20110513-1elxl.html)



http://images.smh.com.au/2011/05/13/2361321/choppercrash2-420x0.jpg

A man was lucky to escape with minor injuries and a few burns to his knees after his helicopter crashed and burst into flames at Bankstown Airport this afternoon.
Police said the helicopter, with just the pilot on board, crashed about 4.10pm.
Flames engulfed the helicopter and quickly consumed it.

http://images.smh.com.au/2011/05/13/2361254/chopper729-420x0.jpg
Black smoke billows from the burning chopper after the crash. Photo: Darryl Smith

Nothing was left apart from charred metal and part of the tail.
An Ambulance NSW spokesman said the man, 64, escaped from the helicopter before it burst into flames.
He said the pilot received minor chest and head injuries and minor burns to both knees.

http://images.smh.com.au/2011/05/13/2361320/choppercrash1-420x0.jpg
The helicopter on fire. Photo: Gail Wilkinson, smh reader

He was taken to Liverpool Hospital.

[AaronBradford]

Chopper crashes at Bankstown (http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/chopper-crashes-at-bankstown-20110513-1elxl.html)

There's a few pictures, and tells that the pilot was 64, and suffered minor chest and head injuries, plus burnt knees.

[Sanus]

That looks to be a large Tail Rotor. Any idea of type?

[Arrrj]

According to Channel 7 news in Sydney...it was a AS350 Squirrel. It looked to be metalic grey colour. Apparently the "64 year old pilot lost control on landing" and "crashed from 2 metres". "He got out before flames engulfed the machine."

As a BK regular, I am very pleased that the pilot is OK.

Arrrj

[topendtorque]

You reckon he's got problems now? Wait till the Director General of Parks and landscaping gets a hold of him by the short and curlies. Even the common gardner might stick it up him for a couple of cartons to make it square.

[Senior Pilot]

Video report (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8248930/helicopter-crashes-at-bankstown) from Channel Nine, but the written report (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8248930/helicopter-crashes-at-bankstown) is interesting from a firefighting professional :hmm:

Miraculously he escaped from the aircraft, which came down about 250 metres from the police and fire air wing, before it caught on fire, Superintendent Chris Jurgeit from Fire and Rescue NSW told AAP.

"The firies who were at the air wing saw the fire, ran over to it and started extinguishing," he said.

They were soon joined by three fire trucks.

The pilot was treated at the scene by paramedics for minor injuries to his head and chest, as well as for minor burns to his knees, before being taken to Liverpool Hospital.

He was said to be in a stable condition.

The helicopter was covered with plastic, and will be examined by air traffic investigators.

"We have issues with substances the chopper was made from," Supt Jurgeit said.

"There is a lot of carbon fibre in it.

"Under fire conditions it can sometimes put contaminants into the atmosphere, which aren't very good."

As a precaution, a nearby factory was closed.The media around the world sometimes astound me with their reporting prowess :rolleyes:

[widgeon]

Carbon fibre particles can short out electrical equipment. However AFAIK there is no carbon fibre in the AS350 and very little in the EC130

Sources Secret carbon fiber bombs kill power in Serbia - CNN (http://articles.cnn.com/1999-05-03/us/9905_03_secret.weapon_1_bombs-nato-power-grids?_s=PM:US)

[mickjoebill]

Reports it was a B3, apparently the pilot called a pan pan pan engine problem, before making the emergency landing.


The comment that fire trucks were on scene "shortly" is somewhat misleading from my perspective. As there are NO fire trucks at Bankstown airport a truck would have had to have come from Bankstown Fire Station (+5 kilometers distant) and although I didn't have a stop watch on it, and my view of the scene was obscured, it was between 5-10 minutes before I saw a fire tuck at the fire.
Anyone have a more accurate view of how long it took a truck to arrive?

In any event, it is puzzling that one of Australia's busiest GA airports has no on-field fire or rescue cover.

A low cost solution favored in many airfields around the world is to buy a used (retired) fire truck which is then manned by whoever is available (and qualified) on the airfield.
With Australia's willingness to use volunteers for fire and other emergency services surely this isn't a big ask? Fire fighters from the airwing were quickly on scene in this case, along with local ambulance and I'd suggest that there are other volunteer firefighters at the field who would also respond, especially if appropriate kit was available, like a truck.


Also, apparently there is no alerting system that can be heard across all of the field?


Mickjoebill

[Kulwin Park]

anyone figured out the rego yet?? or who owned it?? work on quite a few of those EC machines, but away at moment. PM me if you know.

[catseye]

MJB

there is a Station Officer level firey in the cops donga most of the time as the BK is supposed to be joint user cops and firies. Once the crew and pax are out it's only an insurance issue anyway which is what fortunately happened here.

Had discussed this situation with GR head of Air No Services some time ago about this exact issue. It was being looked into as various people were uneasy with the current response times and coverage.

He has had experience establishing a base level fire service at an aerodrome he worked at that saved buildings following a structural fire. Staffing was by those on site at the time. Hardest part was getting the board sign off for the minimal expenditure on a second hand truck. Training costs were hidden in other bits of the accounts.

Last discussion was on using a 4wd bushfire type truck rather than another more expensive TCFR appliance. This might kick it along again.

At least there was local assetts that could respond. Prang something like that at some other high usage sites and the locals could only cool the cinders.

Be interested to know if the machine was leaking or on fire prior to touchdown. Would have thought even a hard landing off an auto wouldn't burn.

Catseye

[IntheTin]

This gave me a chuckle! Not really sure what it means but.......:}

there is a Station Officer level firey in the cops donga most of the time as the BK is supposed to be joint user cops and firies.

[mcgrath50]

And here I was thinking PPRuNe was kept G rated Inthetin!

[Al Fentanyl]

While RFFS are doing quite well at providing First Responder-level first-aid care at major airports, and have had a couple of wins with subsequent early defibrillation of cardiac arrests, there is little / no evidence that having an on-field fire response makes any difference to outcomes in GA incidents at GA airports. It was this lack of outcomes that led to their removal from GAAPs.

The response time to the site is never as quick as the speed of the fuel-fed fire. The fatalities in crash-&-burn incidents occur either on impact or within a minute or so. Look at recent history - Jandakot, the 404 EFATO crash, Bankstown, the night training single engine go-around that went wrong, the Bathurst Is C310, the Cessnock R44, the Bathurst Chieftain, the Bankstown Mojave, the Launceston Chieftain, the Mareeba Aztec, the Toowoomba Kingair.... all crashes with fires where it was all over so fast that the presence or absence of an on-field RFFS was irrelevant.

[belly tank]

My info is that it is a near new AS350 B3. Private pilot new licence holder.

[helihub]

and thus the B3 is VH-XXW (7053), first registered in Australia 16 September 2010

[cockney steve]

^^^^^^ erm, judging by the photos, that should be in the past tense.:8

[ROTOR BLAST]

Little Pika

You seem to be well informed for someone who has just joined prune.
I am wondering what is to be gained by blurting out the pilot's name etc....what has that got to do with the helicopter accident.:ugh:
I have been told on good authority the pilot has had a licence for several years.

[Little Pika]

ROTOR BLAST
You seem to be easily upset. The reason i 'blurted out' the name of the pilot who crashed his chopper at Bankstown on Friday was because an obviously concerned helicopter mechanic, KULWIN PARK, had asked if anyone knew the pilot's name.
Perhaps if you were in the same position as KULWIN, and not privy to your 'good authority' source you may well be asking the same question.
Besides the pilot's name will come out anyway soon enough and i fail to see why it is any problem to be known in this forum.

[airspace alpha]

The reason for no ARFFS at Bankstown, or any of the GAAP's, is thus. They were withdrawn circa 1990 for cost reasons. ie: huge cost, little use.
The ONLY legal supplier of ARFFS is currently Airservices Australia and if there was a desire to re-establish such a service it would be on an economic cost basis. Think $1.5Mill plus per year for Bankstown. Who would pay that? The user? the airport? Thoughts of stuffing a Ute with firefighting gear and having it available for anyone to grab are regrettably pipe dreams. For a start there would be an issue of liability if something went wrong. Then training, then availability. Then insurance cover.

Interesting that Airservices ARFFS covers 21 airports across Australia. How many airports have jet RPT services? Well, 44 airports are required to have checked bag screening for jet RPT services so you work it out.

[topendtorque]

Little Pika I think you may be the pot calling the kettle black with your criticism of ROTOR BLAST.

May i humbly point out to you, as another aussie, that before you go spilling your guts all over the floor in front of us in rather unceremonious manner that you should be reminded that success in aviation and especially rotary aviation is about excellent observation, be you a pilot or engineer.

Perhaps you missed this bit in red below. PM stands for Private Message which can be found on the toolbar above at User CP.


anyone figured out the rego yet?? or who owned it?? work on quite a few of those EC machines, but away at moment. PM me if you know


Most people are not mentioned by name here unless they are named first in the press or there is a bleedingly obvious reason why it might be a good idea. Even those whose personna is bleedingly obvious are not labelled, club rules as I understand it, old chap. Oh, and welcome from me by the way.
tet