Fire Fighting Helo Down in Darling Downs

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

ABC News reporting a helo crash in Darling Downs, near Toowoomba, whilst engaged in fire fighting ops.

Update @ 12.50 PM WST - Pilot being treated for 'minor injuries'...No mention of Helo Type as yet.

Hope they were well 'clear'.

News report at 12.30pm WST Wed 13th Nov.

[segfault]

Guardian reports Pilot has survived. No information on other crew.

[MJA Chaser]

"landed heavily" walked away.

[CaptainEmad]

Yes, quite heavy. :)

Glad it wasn’t a crash after all.


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[Kagamuga]

Great news to hear the pilot is OK, the TV reporters were making a big deal about the pilot being 70 years old.

Big helicopter; I think its known as the "widow maker" Great outcome in trying conditions. Keep up the good work!

P2-MLJ is the registration; would this be investigated by ATSB or PNG AIC?, in reality probably not worth investigating.

[Mumbai Merlin]

McDermott website says they have 13 of the Bell 214 choppers, so they probably have plenty of spares to put this huge single engine machine back into the air.

[Duck Pilot]

Operator’s report would be suffice in my opinion, they are a pretty mature organisation and maintain pretty high standards.

Great to hear the pilot got out ok. Sad loss of a good machine. I’d imagine the operational conditions at the time would have been very tough.

Doubt the AIC or ATSB would be interested in doing an onsite investigation given the circumstances.

[Kagamuga]

Duck,

I agree; pilot report would suffice. The organisation ticks all the boxes for being a responsible operator.

[Duck Pilot]

Highly reputable operator, I’ve worked with them indirectly and I was very impressed!

[industry insider]

Highly reputable operator, I’ve worked with them indirectly and I was very impressed!

Obviously you are not referring to the dodgy operations for NOGA out of Suai which some have described as illegal.