Another Twin Sacrificed

[JimL]

"A Sikorsky S-76 helicopter owned by Helijet International was forced to make a water landing off Langara Island in Haida Gwaii this week, said a company spokesman.

The incident happened at 1: 45 p.m. Monday after the helicopter had engine problems while on a charter. Neither the pilot nor the passenger, a fishing guide, were injured, said Jay Minter, Helijet marketing director. The helicopter landed on water beside a floating helipad after it lost power in an engine.

"While the aircraft was waiting to be towed to the floating helideck, it started to list to its right side, causing water to enter the cabin," Minter said.

The pilot and passenger got out before the helicopter turned upside down. Fuel containment booms were placed around the aircraft.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist"

[OffshoreHeli-Mgr]

Well so much for having two engines.

He better have a good excuse!

[ralphmalph]

My thoughts exactly.....WTF?

[heli-cal]

Helijet Happy Fishing! RT @rugbycanada: CATCH OF DAY ONE AT HELIJET CANADIAN RUGBY FISHING CHALLENG

Ironic messages appearing on the company website, here (http://www.helijet.com/)! :D

[helihustle]

Easy to sit at the key board and make judgements. We don't know the whole story. Be a professional to your peers.

[krypton_john]

Damn. Too bad the floats are no good for anything other than time to get out.

[OvertHawk]

I'd still rather be in a twin where, for a small segment of the take-off there may be a period when an engine failure will lead to a partially powered ditching rather than in a single where an engine failure at any time will definitely lead to a power-off ditching.

Glad they all got out - shame the aircraft was lost.

OH

[lotusexige]

I have often wondered as to whether the extra complexity of a twin negates the advantage of having the second donkey.

[terminus mos]

Must have been more to this than a simple engine failure or shutdown. With
2 pob even a straight A model will have enough grunt to fly away from most situations.

[76fan]

Why does the first reaction always have to be "It's pilot error". How about waiting until all the facts are known then perhaps others may learn from this pilot's misfortune.

[Agaricus bisporus]

Very simple buddy, it's because 80% of aircraft accidents are caused by pilot error...

[Sir Korsky]

Once you've uttered the word " committed " you're either in it or on it. The twin concept is flawed for 10 seconds every take off and landing unless you're doing the cat A thang.

[ec135driver]

The single engined concept is flawed for the ENTIRE flight.

[Turkeyslapper]

Tongue in cheek.....What about the single transmission thing, the single tail rotor thing etc Having great Cat A performance hasn't really helped in the recent AW139 Tail/tail rotor incidents :E I still enjoy flying a AW139 though, as I do an AS350!

End of thread drift.

[76fan]

Agaricus bisporus: "Very simple buddy, it's because 80% of aircraft accidents are caused by pilot error... "

Then I guess you are one of the lucky ones who have never had an accident or incident ...... Yet? Or perhaps you are a plank driver and sit at altitude with plenty of time to read the "what do I do now" checklist with your co-pilot? Learn fom the mistakes or misfortunes of others and you will be a better pilot, or is that not possible?

[paco]

"I have often wondered as to whether the extra complexity of a twin negates the advantage of having the second donkey."

I always work on the principle that a multi-engined helicopter is only safer when one engine fails. Two engines didn't help the guys in the recent Bond gearbox incident or the S-92 from Cougar.

Phil

[Steam Chicken]

Wow, any facts here?

Offshoreheli, do you know what you're talking about? Have you been to that pad? I have. Have you shot that approach? I have. Actually I'm supposed to head over that way today.

So what else do we know? A 76 A has limited single engine performance and there are portions of an approach where if an engine fails you won't be flying away. This is exactly where this engine failure took place, just where this guy needed both stoves the most, one cratered. There were only two people on board, but the back was loaded with supplies so although I don't know the exact weight, lets just say that they were heavy.

Here's another thing, the pad that this all happed at isn't like a pad on rig or hospital. It's a small floating pad just big enough for the machine and not much more, you can't go storming onto it with a bunch of airspeed and throw the brakes on at the last moment, it's a bush approach, you have to slow down early and walk onto that spot. Here's another thing, you can't always be into wind on that approach, the lodge is in a bay on the lee side of Langara Island and things get sporty back there a LOT. On a single approach you can be into and down wind five times, it can be a real bitch back there (but you knew that)

At the end of the day during the most exposed portion of the flight the helicopter let the pilot down in a loaded A model on short final. Both people got out without getting their feet wet and a lot of you are jumping on this guy about what kind of job he did. Here's my two cents with a lot of local knowledge and some other facts that I came up with:

Nicely done Lad! Hats off from me


That all being said: I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but come on folks. If you don't know what your talking about, give the guy a break and back a brother up.

[skadi]

Is that the location? Small rectangular floating pad?

https://maps.google.com/?ll=54.19071,-133.00033&z=16&t=h

skadi

[Steam Chicken]

That's the place, although the pad is in a slightly different location right now.

[ShyTorque]

Those wanting to criticise twin engines (often pilots with little or no experience of operating them) often fail to recognise that no-one makes a single engine big enough to do the job, so as far as the pilot is concerned, there is no choice in any case.

Having operated the S-76 for some years, and afew thousand hours, I'd agree most strongly that some variants are far from "blessed" in the power reserve department unless the weight is kept right down.

If the aircraft couldn't be operated to Class A performance standards then a ditching is a likely option and in this case, no lives were lost.

BTW, the title and initial responses on this thread makes it appear that some think an airframe is more important than the lives of those within it.....

[malabo]

Landing on a log raft? Downwind? Oh the horror, the horror! Funny thing though, all the same runway takeoff Cat A only Europeans that then spend some time in Canada eventually get onto it and do quite well.

[SASless]

no-one makes a single engine big enough to do the job,


Errrrr....how about the Bell 214? It does magic on one engine!


http://www.helicomontagne.fr/ancien/BELL214HM2.jpg

[ShyTorque]

Yes, I'll take one, thanks.

Now, anyone got a spanner to take that engine out? You can keep the rest. :D