Heli went bathing

[Flying Bull]

an AirZermat helicopter touched a cable during an excercise
(taking water from a pond)
The waterlanding and egress of the pilot went successful, unfortunatly the helicopter wasnˋt equipped with floats (seldom in the swiss mountains)
https://www.air-zermatt.ch/wordpress/zwischenfall-bei-uebungsflug/

https://www.blick.ch/news/schweiz/westschweiz/flugunfall-in-raron-vs-helikopter-der-air-zermatt-stuerzt-in-see-id8383667.html

[golfbananajam]

good to hear that the pilot was only lightly injured and that it won't affect this weekends celebrations

From the blick.ch link "Für das Helikopterunternehmen kommt der Unfall zur dümmsten Zeit. Für das Wochenende ist ein zweitägiges Fest auf der Helikopterbasis Raron geplant, weil die Air Zermatt ihren 50. Geburtstag feiert. «Der Zwischenfall hat keinen Einfluss auf die Jubiläums-Feierlichkeiten vom kommenden Wochenende», teilt Air Zermatt jedoch mit" loosly translated to be For the helicopter operator, the accident came at the dummet time. This weekend sees Air Zermatt celebrate the 50th birthday with a 2 day celebration but this accident won't affect the celbrations said Air Zermatt.

[GoodGrief]

'Every pole has a wire. Every lake has a cable.'
First week of PPL ground school.

[r88]

Good grief, that is a stupid thing to say, with the benefit of hindsight

[OvertHawk]

Good grief, that is a stupid thing to say, with the benefit of hindsight

r88... Why is it a stupid thing to say? I suppose it was the wicked fairies that caused the helicopter to crash rather than a wire strike?

Always assume there is a wire. Even if you can't see it! Even if you've looked for it. Even if you've looked for it twice. Look again. And maybe then you will still miss it and be unlucky.

[TylerMonkey]

Words to live by . . .

[nigelh]

So if you look twice and don’t see it .... do you still not go in ??!!! Surely better to just mark every lake on a gps system that does have a wire as an extra precaution?

[Vertical Freedom]

'Every pole has a wire. Every lake has a cable.'
First week of PPL ground school.
totally agree

[skadi]

So if you look twice and don’t see it .... do you still not go in ??!!! Surely better to just mark every lake on a gps system that does have a wire as an extra precaution?
This cable is only a few hundred feet north of their base, they should've seen it more than twice...

skadi

[Twist & Shout]

This cable is only a few hundred feet north of their base, they should've seen it more than twice...

skadi

For reasons not fully understood by me, statistics apparently suggest that hitting a wire/cable that is “known about” is far from uncommon. Unfortunately.

[John Eacott]

16.05.2018 - AS 350B3+ Ecureuil HB-ZKF - Baggersee/VS (http://www.heli-archive.ch/en/helicopters/helicopter-accidents/16052018-as-350b3-ecureuil-beggerseevs/)



The preparations to celebrate the 50th anniversary since the creation of Air Zermatt, scheduled for the next 19-20 May, have been overshadowed by an aerial incident occurred this morning shortly after 10 am. Fortunately the pilot reported only minor injuries while the helicopter was seriously damaged.According to information released by Valais canton police in the course of a training flight, the helicopter AS 350B3 Ecureuil with call sign HB-ZKF which was transporting a water bucket hit accidentally some electric wires ending its flight in the Baggersee, a pond situated between the villages of Visp and Raron, near Air Zermatt’s base.
The pilot, who would have reported as said only minor injuries, managed to free himself from the cabin and reach the shore. He was then transported to the Inselspital in Bern.
Emergency services immediately rushed on the spot of the accident. Firefighters assisted by some members of the Upper Valais Section of the Swiss rescue society placed an anti-pollution barrier around the helicopter wrackage that lay half submerged in the pond. A large crane then arrived on site to recover the damaged aircraft.
The Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB) will investigate to determine the causes of the accident.


http://www.heli-archive.ch/fileadmin/images/Incidenti/HB-ZKF_KAPWA.jpg


https://air-zermatt.ch/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/zkf_004.jpg

Amazing that anyone survived that.

[[email protected]]

Do we think he just forgot he had a bucket underneath?

A telecoms-assisted quickstop perhaps.........

A lucky boy, that's for sure.

[KiwiNedNZ]

Crab - No he didnt just forget he had a bucket underneath. Was talking to the pilot here at Air Zermatt base in Raron earlier today. Was putting the bucket in the water and as is normal practice in many places pulled sideways to help tip it over and fill quicker, and completely lost situational awareness of the wires there. The rest is history.

[heliduck]

Was putting the bucket in the water and as is normal practice in many places pulled sideways to help tip it over and fill quicker

Thats an interesting technique, not something I’ve ever need to do either with a longline or if connected direct to the hook. Do they use a Bambi bucket or a different make? If they don’t think it rolls over quickly enough maybe a heavier counterweight would help.
Regardless, if the machine was that close to the wire while filling then how they fill it is probably not the most hazardous part of the operation.

[SuperF]

A lot of buckets want to float on top of the water, and you can see all sorts of interesting maneuvers as guys try to get the bucket to tip over. It is quite common with the light framed rigid buckets.

Our bucket sinks fast, however i have been known to be pulling a lot of sideways while the bucket is filling in a fast flowing river that only has one hole that you can fill in. You end up getting way upstream trying to hold the bucket in the hole, and then having to get over the top as its filling. It is an interesting maneuver, if you let the power down the river drags the bucket out of the hole downstream, if you pull too much power then the bucket comes out of the water and doesn't fill.... Just the right amount of up and down and you get a full load. we didn't have wires to worry about tho

[[email protected]]

So, no malfunction and operating in a familiar area with known obstructions and the helicopter is a write-off - bet his employers are really happy with him...............

[whoknows idont]

I bet his employers are primarily happy that he's still breathing...

[KiwiNedNZ]

Actually Gerold took him flying in the 429 today to get him back in the air again. Yeah they are probably unhappy that he crashed it but are also more happy he is still alive and recovering. And in fact they have already bought a replacement H125 to replace the one that crashed.

[GrayHorizonsHeli]

shoulda got several 505's as replacements.

you know...for spares.

[finalchecksplease]

So, no malfunction and operating in a familiar area with known obstructions and the helicopter is a write-off - bet his employers are really happy with him...............

Crab, everybody is fallible unless you are the exception?

All the pilots I've met at Air Zermatt are experienced professionals working in challenging conditions but as all humans liable to make mistakes.
Glad to see he got out ok. :ok:

[[email protected]]

I've made plenty of mistakes but there are mistakes and there are mistakes - ones that end up with a written off aircraft (but thankfully an OK pilot) need something more than just a shrug of the shoulders and an opening of the chequebook.

Perhaps commercial aviation is different but in the military, if a pilot crashed an aircraft like that simply due to a handling/SA error, there would be a lot of questions asked of him and his supervisors/trainers.

[Bellrider]

So, no malfunction and operating in a familiar area with known obstructions and the helicopter is a write-off - bet his employers are really happy with him...............


Air Zermatt is one of the most professionell heli companies in the world!
So they will know very well what they will do..
But for shure Crab, they will be very happy if you will call them by phone and give some advices how to train their pilots........
( +41 27 966 86 86)
Greetings from the alps.......

[[email protected]]

So no questions should be asked when the ‘most professional’ company spanks in a helicopter in a familiar and seemingly benign area????????
Doesnt sound like a safety management system in action to me.

[SuperF]

And none of us have ever heard of a military helicopter getting "spanked in" during what civil operators consider exceptionally benign operations.

But i am guessing that Air Zermatt have a few guys with a bit of experience that will be having a look at what happened and why. An i am pretty sure that they wont be doing their analysis on an internet gossip forum...

[KiwiNedNZ]

Actually Crab I am here with the crews at Air Zermatt, Gerold the CEO is a very good friend of mine. I actually posed the question to him yesterday about the accident and if any repercussions for Andreas who was flying. He said no as we are all fallible. They will analyse the accident, what happened, what should be done to ensure it doesn't happen again and move forward. As he said no point in firing a pilot who has thousands of hours mountain flying as then you have to start from scratch with someone else. Bottom line Air Zermatt a very good professional company with a LOT of very experienced pilots. Considering they operate in a pretty hostile environment year round I am actually surprised there are not more incidents. They take training to the highest level and need to when you are doing a HEC rescue on the side of the Matterhorn at 13,000ft in the middle of the night in **** weather. Anyway thats just some FYI. Cheers,

[henra]

So no questions should be asked when the ‘most professional’ company spanks in a helicopter in a familiar and seemingly benign area????????
Doesnt sound like a safety management system in action to me.
And how do you know that they are not asking him any questions?
I'm a bit puzzled that for you an existing Safety Management system manifests itself in publicly (in an internet forum) crucifying a pilot who made an error?

[heliduck]

. He said no as we are all fallible. They will analyse the accident, what happened, what should be done to ensure it doesn't happen again and move forward,
Excellent outcome, in my experience good people generally become good operators/employers.

[[email protected]]

Kiwined - no need to be quite so defensive, if Air Zermat are doing what you say then they are doing exactly what I would expect from a professional outfit. They are analysing the reasons for the accident and working to ensure they can prevent it happening in the future. That may or may not involve rebriefing or retraining for the pilot involved..

Night mountain rescues are not exactly new to me and I am well aware how well trained you need to be to do them.

[KiwiNedNZ]

Not being defensive at all, merely making some comments.