EC145 crash in Italy

[Vertical751]

I don´t know if this is a repost or not, but even so, rare footage. :sad:

Precipita elicottero del 118 - Video - Corriere TV (http://video.corriere.it/precipita-elicottero-118/cbf774ac-d3c8-11e1-83bd-0877fdcd1621#.UAu85AKIWxY.gmail)

[Phoinix]

Google Translate (http://translate.google.com/translate?client=safari&hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&twu=1&q=goog?sl=it&tl=en&u=http%3A//www.ilmessaggero.it/primopiano/cronaca/sondrio_precipita_elicottero_del_118_estratti_vivi_piloti_e_ passeggeri/notizie/209673.shtml)

I'm glad all are ok. According to the translation they hit wires on take off.

[Gordy]

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/311652_10150916846687261_179299570_n.jpg

[Phoinix]

After seeing that photo I went back to the video, you can hear the moment when the wires get cut and the next second the helicopter comes spinning into view.

[chopperthedeer]

the result ...:eek:

http://webstorage.mediaon.it/media/2012/07/378031_821883_Elicottero_14174075_medium.jpg

http://lightstorage.laprovinciadilecco.it/media/2012/07/378115_6010373_21lug48_18111927_medium.jpg

http://lightstorage.ecodibergamo.it/media/2012/07/378032_821884_Elicottero_14174073_medium.jpg

[chopjock]

I guess the cable cutter on the front didn't help much then.

[Soave_Pilot]

Cant think of any reason why it was turning clockwise like that... pedal jammed perhaps?

[pohm1]

Maybe the tail rotor took out the power line?

P1

[Soave_Pilot]

Maybe the tail rotor took out the power line?

From my point of view, if the T/R got damaged from the strike the aircraft should've been turning the other way b/c the rotors turn clockwise.

[Evil Twin]

Nope, EC145 blades rotate anti-clockwise (conventional) as the aircraft is based on the BK117 not like it's EC brethren.

Looks like a tail rotor strike to me in the video too. If you check the video as the aircraft climbs above the trees the tail rotor appears to be turning very slowly and doesn't look right.

(edited for typo)

[Soave_Pilot]

Nope, EC145 blades rotate anti-clockwise


Gotcha ET! All seems right then...

[hueyracer]

Let´s wait a minute before spreading rumours here......but wait-it´s a "rumour network"....


So rumour it has that the pilot has been involved in two other accidents before this one....

Anyone knows anything about this?

[61 Lafite]

Amazing crash-worthiness demonstrated by the EC145. No fire and everyone alive.

I only fly Robinsons, and I'm a big fan of them, but I would find it hard to believe a Robinson R44 or R66 would have had the same outcome.

Shame I don't have the millions of dollars it takes to fly an EC145.

Lafite

[chopperthedeer]

Amazing crash-worthiness yes....only the passengers part of the cabin it's litterally collapsed...fortunately noone was inside.
Ec145 has "anticrash seats" ?

[chopperthedeer]

I confirm only 2 (pilot and technician) on board ...and they escaped without consequences.

[Big Bucks Bernie]

Judging by this (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ilgiorno.it%2Fsondrio%2Fcronaca%2F2012%2F 07%2F21%2F747388-elicottero-118-precipita-morbegno-sondrio-bergamo-valtellina.shtml) and a few other Italian articles, only the pilot and flight engineer were onboard the helicopter at the time of the accident (It sounds as if they wanted to go and refuel in Colico before hooking up with the rest of the crew again).

[FullTravelFree]

So it seems he caught the two lowest cables. He must have been taking off from right under the wires.
Maybe he lowered the nose a bit too much...

The 145 tailroter is located quite high. Wonder how the movie would have looked like if it was a T2 model.
Let me rephrase, too bad it wasn't a T2 model...

[Phoinix]

I would rephrase, too bad he didn't miss the wires entirely.

[Shenanigan]

Strange, it really looks like the blades are spinning the same direction as the fuselage in that video. Must be an illusion.

[soloviev]

I do confirm only two on board, pilot and mechanic. Medical crew was just left on ground.
Pilot was involved in other minor accident previously but he's operating HEMS in extreme environment (mountains, lot of cables...) since many years.

[Phoinix]

On typical digital cameras, the blades always spin the wrong way, an illussion caused by capture frame rate and rotor frequency.

[heli-cal]

I confirm only 2 (pilot and technician) on board ...and they escaped without consequences.

The actual consequences being that this cowboy endangered the aircraft and crew, wrote off the said aircraft and caused damage to other property!

[aegir]

The actual consequences being that this cowboy endangered the aircraft and crew, wrote off the said aircraft and caused damage to other property!

Why you call the pilot "cowboy"? It was a normal Hems mission with a normal take off from a green...

[Girv]

Yeh I agree aegir, to call the pilot a cowboy is unfair. It's more likely the crew have forgotten where the wires were and did not sight the hardware on the hill before and during take off. It's a big span that doesn't seem to have marker balls, plus with the light in the wrong direction the wires have probably blended into the back ground. It's good old flying in the wire environment. CRM stuff. Look at some of the Ag, Power line, fire and EMS accidents, they usually hit the wires they knew were there but got preoccupied, were tired or distracted. All it takes is a few seconds loss of concentration due to a phone beeping, someone waving at you etc...

[mika33]

Fortunatly nobody is die when we see the wreck of the EC145.

[aegir]

in addition it was about 19 in the evening, so with the sun low on the orizon...

[MightyGem]

On typical digital cameras, the blades always spin the wrong way, an illussion caused by capture frame rate and rotor frequency.
Nothing to do with digital cameras. It's been around since the start of motion picture films. Wagon wheels in cowboy films going backwards etc, etc.

[crice]

This is me and an EC145 near some wires...

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt202/crice_2009/P1000512.jpg

...unfortunately I'm the one in the stretcher but despite being out of it on morphine and ketamine courtesy of the Swiss paramedics I was still mildly concerned about the wires and at 6'4" a little concerned about how much of me was overhanging the end of the stretcher meaning it didn't winch up all that level and in my sedated state I was sure it was only velcro straps holding me in.
So I didn't really get to enjoy my little alpine flight as I lay on my back with the hypnotic flashing of the sun beaming down through the M/R and a neck brace pressing into my adams apple, but it was reasuring to know that I was taking the direct route to hospital.

[hueyracer]

Please tell me that these are cables from a lift-and not electricity wires, that are so close to a steel rope hanging from a helicopter.....

[crice]

No they're not lift cables, they both run to the street lamp so pretty sure they're both power (the one across the road could be telegraph) but looking at google street view Morzine, France - Google Maps (http://goo.gl/maps/UIk6a) gives a different angle. None the less I don't think that the winch cable could have been more than 20metres from the wires.
I do seem to recall that as soon as he'd taken up the slack on the cable it was 'up and away' as I remember dangling over the valley for a bit before being winched the rest of the way in.

[vaibronco]

hueyracer,
I think it's once again a photographic perspective
the hoist cable is not as close to the wires as it looks
moreover, one of the wires seems to go on a telephone/streetlight pole, and look like beeing twisted around its supporting rope

[HeliHenri]

crice : "I don't think that the winch cable could have been more than 20metres from the wires."

Hello crice,

20 m ! That's very close !
the next time, ride your bycicle on an airport, there's much more room to operate. ;) (if you were note on a bycicle, my joke is dead...).
for your info, In the country you were on holidays, there are 35 helicopters like this one doing each year about 10 000 winch operations (day and night). it's not a nice experience but you can trust the crew.
And about the crew, it was not a Swiss paramedic but a French emergency doctor. Morzine is in France and if the Swiss Rega has 6 EC145, they're red and withe !

BRGS and hope you're find now :)
Henri

[SASless]

Perspective is deceiving I am sure.

The nearest cables to the camera run to the light pole and it is clearly set back from the roadway. The Power cables run to the building and are below the road grade or almost and are offset from the roadway as well.

As these are highly trained and professional crews....I for one consider their decision based upon the situation to be far more credible than a single poorly posed photo.

The were on the scene....the looked it over and made their decision. I am sure it was the correct one....what is there to be gained by criticizing them?

All that being said....I wonder if there was not an open field within a short distance of the site of the crash that could have been used that would have been much safer. Sometimes a two minute ride in ground transport will provide access to a nice LZ with no hazards at all.

[crice]

HeliHenri, yes I was riding a bicycle and collided with an oncoming car (silly mistake).
I realise that Morzine is in France but my assertion that it was a Swiss helicopter was based on information received from the travel insurance company, who said (and I can’t be sure which way round it was) that either the French or Swiss worked on a reciprocal basis but that one or other didn’t.
Yes, thank you, I’m fine now, it’s almost a year since the accident. I had a pneumothorax / slight hemothorax, a broken clavicle, scapular and rib. I spent 5 days in hospital in France then on the car journey back to the UK my clavicle moved out of alignment so I went to hospital again in the UK and had a titanium plate and ten screws installed to hold it together, that will probably remain in there now.

SASless, I am not criticizing them for one second, I am very grateful to them.
I merely posted the photo as a reminder that often these crews do work in close proximity to a number of dangers, including wires, and that (as HeliHenri has pointed out) given the number of operations flown in these circumstances it is not inconceivable that rarely a mistake is made.
Anyway the guys who tended to me were brilliant (appeared very casual but consummately professional) and I am not calling into question their judgment or airmanship at all.
My injuries were not life threatening but you can’t be too careful and I was grateful for the helicopter as the road journey would have taken a lot longer and been less comfortable.