R44 Accident Switzerland

[jymil]

News article, in german only:
Harte Landung: Dieser Heli ist nicht mehr heil ? Bern ? Blick (http://www.blick.ch/news/schweiz/bern/dieser-heli-ist-nicht-mehr-heil-id2566324.html)


The text basically states there was a hard landing, but would the rotor blades really fold like that without the skids bending, too ? Or is there any alternative explanation on how an R44 can end up like this ?

[Armchairflyer]

According to the text there was some sort of sliding before the final hard landing :confused:.

Translation (quick & dirty): the pilot wanted to land on a snow-covered meadow yesterday at 3 p.m.. Upon touchdown the aircraft started to slide and became unstable. The result: a hard landing which bent both rotor blades.

Anyway, the most important part is in the next paragraph: pilot and all three passengers uninjured.

[Savoia]

The pilot wanted to land in a snowy meadow yesterday. When placing the machine down he went into a slide and became unstable. The result: A hard landing in which both blades were broken.

http://f.blick.ch/img/incoming/origs2566294/8680484454-w980-h640/Heli.jpg

The pilot and three passengers were uninjured. The helicopter had to be taken away. The cantonal police of Bern and the Swiss Accident Investigation Board (SUST) have responded to the accident.

There have been a number of 'hard landings' this month; the S76 in Louisiana, the Mi-8 in the West Siberian Plain, the 109 over the weekend in Exmoor and now this R44 but .. in all cases .. no injuries .. and for which I am very grateful.

[Redland]

Does anyone have any insight in to what could have happened to cause the blades to fold like this, with no other damage except the mast?

Excessive control inputs, at low rotor speed?

[Martin Barclay]

Looks like quite a ding in the cowlings towards the rear and damage, scratches, scraping? above the skids on the left hand side? Need to see a bit more of the location but it looks like another solid object might be involved in this?

Nice to speculate on this one considering no one was hurt!

[Jack Welles]

My first post in this forum so as quick intro I'm a CPL (H)


When I first saw the picture my first thought was solid object. The mast seems to be out of alignment, too -


How hard would you have to land to bend the blades? But without any discernible effect on skids?

[ROTORVATION]

SAVOIA, HI - What was the 109 incident to which you refer over Exmoor? Thanks, RV

[Ready2Fly]

It was this (http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/529580-aw109s-hard-landing-exmoor.html).

[Hawkeye0001]

Kind of a long shot, but...
Judging by the picture it reminds me a lot of an incident I had two years ago in what could've easily ended the same: training flight in a 44, intended to set down in a grassy patch at the end of a runway. After a quick look around on the ground the area seemed to be reasonably flat but we overlooked a furrow that was hidden under grass. Of course we hit exactly this furrow on touchdown :} The helicopter immediately got into a fast, violent, diagonal rocking motion about the furrow as a pivot point (comparable to Ground Resonance) and we managed to pick it up just in time with no clue what the heck had just happened - luckily there was no damage except for a little dent in the aft cowling / a little hole punched into it by the skid fairing.

Looking at the picture I could very well imagine that the same thing might have happened here: snow covered field, furrow not discernible, hit it a tad too hard and slide across, violent rocking motion starts - machine disassembles itself in a matter of seconds.
Indicators would be


the helicopter standing at an awkward angle across the furrow
skids not damaged / spread
what seems to be a hole that's punched into the aft cowling by the skid fairing
the long crease in the aft cowling
the crumbled vertical stabilizer and drooped tailcone
the mast obviously severely shaken from the event
gearbox ripped apart by severe vibrations (see oil leak on LH fuselage)


Only thing that puzzles me in this scenario is that the blades did not contact the tailboom. :confused:

[Thomas coupling]

I think this was the "C" model. They had a blade fold option.

Lovely shot though, eh. Best place for a robbo - parked up in that configuration. 1 down 2019 to go!!!

[Rotorbee]

Ahem, has anybody noticed, that the blades are upside down? The whole control linkage must have been ripped of.
I know that area. It isn't very steep and there isn't enough snow to slide on.
The perceived sliding action might come from not setting the helicopter down completely.
Now, if the controle linkage breakes, the blades would immediataly turn either up or down and break or bend in an instant. If they touch the ground, they would also stop immediately. That could explain the sudden stop, the bent mast and the intact tail boom. Weird. The accident report will be an interesting reading. :\
PS: And for all the Robinson bashers. Move on. Get it over with. There are other helicopters with worse accident statistics.

[nomorehelosforme]

No need to get bitchy!!!! About your Robbie

[HeliHenri]

.
Same country, next day :

R44 written off
Crashed at alt 3200 m during landing practice
Pilot and owner : André Borschberg
He waited 5 hours (temp -10C) to be rescued by an Swiss army AS332 after activating its emergency beacon.
He's the co-founder of the Solar Impulse project and is one of the solar aircraft' pilot.
He said : "I was very lucky".
Happy end ! :)
.

[topendtorque]

Probably you will find just out of frame to the left a couple of nasty gashes on the ground which will account for the bent blade tips. The rest is history, whack whack as it tipped up on its nose, the ground being just too soft to force a slide and instead allowed the skids to dig in a bit and resist forward motion.

Blades were at a very low RPM at time of strike hence the bend at the typical over pitch joint which Dave J referred to.

Firewall will be severely buckled, transmission mounts broken, net result, one totally U/S helicopter. Yes amazing one of the blades didn't hit the tail-boom.

But I agree with Savoia, good to see very few injuries of late, so too over here I think after the hot changeable weather in the wet season build ups, haven't heard of any bad mustering prangs, usually they write off a couple if not kill a couple during that September October period. Every excuse under the sun, except that they got caught downwind too late.

[topendtorque]

Sorry Dave, brain fa*t, it was the venerable Coupling T to whom I should have been referring.\

nomorehelosforme,

he manages to do it with some panache, unlike some others........Quite enjoy running the ball back for a boundary from that sort of thing. and no, not feeling cheeky because the Poms have been flogged in the latest series. That was a pity and a fluke if you ask me, our mob need a much thorough starving and more floggings. The poms are trumps with the locals too owing in part to their non sledging behavour.

cheers tet