View Full Version : Belgian Army helicopter pilot falls out in flight.
Super VC-10
4th Sep 2017, 12:24
Apparently a Belgian Army helicopter pilot fell from his aircraft during a parachute drop near Liège.
Belgian military pilot falls from helicopter during airshow - BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41147046)
Tiger Tales
4th Sep 2017, 13:22
From the Belgian Defence News yesterday:
A pilot falls from a military helicopter in flight Sunday in amay
One of the two pilots who were at the beginning of the afternoon on board a a-109 military helicopter, fell from the aircraft.
The accident occurred during the open day of a special unit, specifically during a skydiving demonstration. According to our information, co-Piolote would have taken over the controls and placed the device.
The research is under way. There is currently no information on the pilot. The ground research area is very wide.
The aircraft had just performed a demonstration of parachutage during the open day of the 4TH ENGINEERING BATTALION IN AMAY (province of liège).
At the time of the incident, the two pilots were alone aboard the helicopter.
The precise circumstances of the accident are not yet known. The man has fallen from the helicopter while this one appears to be at an altitude of several hundred metres. He wasn't wearing a parachute. Neither the fire department nor the police, contacted by the agence agency, wished to communicate this information.
Source: Belgian
Super VC-10
4th Sep 2017, 16:33
De Telegraaf is reporting the his body has been found.
airpolice
4th Sep 2017, 19:08
I wonder if he was still strapped to his seat.
Belgian army pilot in fatal leap from helicopter cockpit (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/belgian-army-pilot-in-fatal-leap-from-helicopter-cockpit-zl5lm5f0l)
A military pilot who fell to his death from his helicopter had recently separated from his wife and two young children, Belgian media have reported. Vincent Valkenberg, 34, is suspected of having waited until his co-pilot was out of the way before jumping from the cockpit door during a flight on Sunday.
The co-pilot was supervising three army parachutists jumping from the aircraft as part of a display. The helicopter lurched suddenly and he saw that Captain Valkenberg’s seat was empty and the cockpit door was wide open. He grabbed the controls and landed safely “without problems”, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Hames, his commander.
The pilot fell hundreds of metres from the Agusta A109, which was flying over a heavily wooded area near Belgium’s Tihange nuclear reactor. His body was recovered yesterday in a wooded area of the Meuse river valley after overnight searches by police helicopters with thermal-imaging cameras.
Suicide is the main theory in the investigation, with all indications being that the pilot voluntarily jumped after taking advantage of the brief moment when his colleague was watching the paratroopers. Helicopter pilots are not equipped with parachutes. The broadcaster RTL reported details of his marital difficulties.
Blacksheep
5th Sep 2017, 07:40
How sad... :(
How awful - poor chap. :(
How awful - poor chap. :(
Except that he could have killed his co-pilot as well.
I AM aware that a suicide's mind is usually disturbed at the time of the deed.
In a former airline one of our MT drivers was used as the means of execution on, IIRC, the M74. Fortunately he could discuss the event which I thought a psychologically 'good thing'.
ShyTorque
5th Sep 2017, 13:59
A tragic event for all concerned.
I have to say, a selfish thing, to include others in the tragedy in such a way.
OvertHawk
5th Sep 2017, 14:48
Clearly a troubled person to take that course of action, if indeed it was suicide as seems likley. But unforgivably cruel, selfish and dangerous to put his colleague in danger in that way.
I hope that the surviving pilot is able to get beyond this horrific experience.
charliegolf
6th Sep 2017, 09:52
Happens to uk train drivers almost weekly. An acquaintance gave the job up after his second jumper.
Brian W May
7th Sep 2017, 06:16
A tragic event for all concerned.
I have to say, a selfish thing, to include others in the tragedy in such a way.
Spot on ST, what a legacy for his wife, kids and colleagues. Very selfish and narcisstic - however tragic his life had become . . .
Very selfish and narcisstic
Only when seen from the outside. Those committing the act see it as the only way out.
Danny42C
7th Sep 2017, 11:11
Years ago we had a fatality at (name witheld). Long afterward a lady appealed (on PPRuNe) for anyone with knowledge of the incident. Seems she had just broken off her engagement to the young man, and she was concerned that he might have taken his own life in consequence.
I was the ATC Watch Supervisor at the time, and was able to reassure her on PM that in the circumstances, it was clearly an accident, he did not suffer and there was no fire.
I hope I was able to put that worry out of her mind.
MATELO
7th Sep 2017, 12:29
Two men in the helicopter... one returns...... only one version..... just saying....
Fortissimo
7th Sep 2017, 18:05
Two men in the helicopter... one returns...... only one version..... just saying....
MATELO, if you are joking, it is in particularly poor taste - I doubt that you would be trolling if this had happened in the UK. If you are serious, you need help. Just saying...
ShyTorque
7th Sep 2017, 21:33
Only when seen from the outside. Those committing the act see it as the only way out.
How do you know?
Fonsini
8th Sep 2017, 02:15
We had a jumper, but from a building not an a/c. Young bloke was advised by his girlfriend that she was pregnant, so he did the decent thing and got down on one knee, not only did she decline his proposal but she also told him that their relationship was over. He went up to the 6th floor and jumped, his body was still on the ground as I drove past it coming into work.
I have known some amazing and beautiful women in my time, but not one that I would kill myself over.
It's not the first and won't be the last time:
https://ssristories.org/miami-dade-police-to-resume-search-for-passenger-who-fell-out-of-plane-the-miami-herald/
Pilot 'jumped from plane and committed suicide' in Canada | Daily Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4339230/Pilot-27-missing-plane-crash-believed-dead.html)
https://blogs.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2008/06/09/the-sad-sky-diving-suicide-of-a-young-schenectady-man/
Remember..there is always a story.
Tashengurt
8th Sep 2017, 07:57
None of us know how it feels to be that low. You can't apply standard reasoning to someone in that state.
Give a thought for his kids too who may in the future stumble upon this thread. Do they need to read negative comments from uninformed bystanders?
ShyTorque. How do I know? Been there, not done that. Have perhaps lacked the courage, but more importantly, have been able to think of people I loved and didn't want to let down. I would think there are very few people who can see another course of action would take the final one.
Danny42C
8th Sep 2017, 11:36
Old Hamlet put in rather well:
... "Or that the Everlasting had not fixed. His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!" ... "the pangs of unrequited love"...
Who among us has not felt them - and can understand how they might drive others to End It All ?
Danny.
My Father was dominated by my Mother, and became so depressed that he jumped off a building. I was 23 at the time, hated my Mother because of what happened, but felt sympathy for my Dad, in that if he felt that it was the only way out, despite medical help, then it was fine by me. Sad, but depression changes does change the way you live. Most important to me that he didn't involve anyone else, except for Emergency Services of course.
parabellum
8th Sep 2017, 12:46
But unforgivably cruel, selfish and dangerous to put his colleague in danger in that way.
Can't help but think such remarks are a bit unkind? Doesn't the 109 have some sort of stabilisation in the hover system? If it did then the pilot who jumped would surely know that his crew mate would quickly realise the situation and recover it, as he did. Even without a stabilisation system, without any significant control inputs, then the aircraft should not have got out of control in a matter of seconds, the time it took for the co-pilot to get into a flying position, left or right. 'Unforgivably cruel and selfish'? don't think so.
OvertHawk
8th Sep 2017, 17:22
Parabellum.
The unforgivably cruel and selfish was a reference to the trauma that his colleague will go through in having to live with what happened for the rest of his life.
As for it being dangerous... If you don't think that opening the door in flight and throwing yourself out from behind a set of controls whilst you're supposed to be the handling pilot is dangerous then I imagine you've never flown a 109! If he'd got caught on the cyclic on the way out (It's a very tight cockpit to get out of rotors running in the best of circumstances) he'd have taken them both out.
I have sympathy for anyone who is so far down the tunnel that they can't see a way out but i entirely stand by my position that it was cruel, selfish and dangerous. In hindsight - I will drop the "unforgivable" since he was clearly not in a rational place.