B206 Fatality Maitland NSW

[belly tank]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-06/killed-in-helicopter-crash-maitland-vale-near-newcastle/101509988

[KRviator]

VH-PHP by the looks of it, owned by Australian Native Landscapes. Doesn't show up on ADS-B, though one of their previous flights have. Nearby resident Lou van der Vliet said the helicopter was "very loud" before it crashed 200 metres from the back boundary of his small acreage.

"I was doing some work here and had my back to it," he said ."All of a sudden there was a big explosion … and then a plume of smoke came up."Under power until impact...? There be powerlines across the river there...

[belly tank]

https://www.nbnnews.com.au/2022/10/07/investigations-into-hunter-helicopter-crash/

[KRviator]

The ATSB Prelim report is out (https://www.atsb.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-11/AO-2022-048%20Prelim_0.pdf), and I don't know what to make of it...

For a flight from Casino to Warnervale, it almost looks like he was searching for somewhere specific on the ground south of Dungog, or trying to avoid weather, but the Maitland METAR indicated weather that was conductive to VFR flight, with the report noting "...8 kt of wind with scattered cloud at 4,000 ft and 4,500 ft and overcast cloud at 7,800 ft above the airport. Witnesses reported the weather at the time and location of the accident to be a mid to high level overcast cloud with no rain. A retired airline pilot reported that the ’Weather was suitable for VFR. A general base layer at 5,000 ft. Scattered cloud with patches to the South" which tends to rule that out, and I cant understand the backtracking and violating the restricted area without a pretty damn good reason...

Clearing a ridgeline by only 200' then descending towards the Hunter River isn't indicative of the enroute portion of a flight with another 60 miles to run, but that's what the report indicates happened.

Idungeddit...:confused:

https://www.atsb.gov.au/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/2022-11/AO-2022-048%20Figure%203.png

[212man]

Some kind of progressive incapacitation followed by a rapid debilitating event?

Common features of these reports were that the helicopter was heading towards the river, descending slightly, possibly initiating a turn when the helicopter rolled markedly and descended rapidly,

[helispotter]

The helicopter sure seemed out of control when it hit the ground. ATSB wrote: "the helicopter impacted the ground at approximately 80° right angle of bank and 60° nose down pitch". Something worrying is that the report indicated a relative contacted the pilot by (mobile) phone at 15:47 to check progress and all seemed well. But by around 15:56 (9 minutes later) the so far unexplained turn was commenced. The report doesn't mention any communications between the pilot and ATC (indicating any sort of distress).

[Flying Binghi]

Some kind of progressive incapacitation followed by a rapid debilitating event?

Looking that way. He tracked down the lane like he’d done it many times before. Phone call saying all good. And then, all over the place ?

[Flying Binghi]

Lets hope the ATSB take note of the vaccine status of the pilot. If vaxed, when was the most recent vaccine taken ?

It is now proven that the china virus vaccines can have serious side effects with questions now being asked in govenment:

https://joannenova.com.au/2022/11/in-south-australia-last-year-suddenly-lots-of-young-adults-went-to-hospital-with-cardiac-issues/

[Lookleft]

Lets hope the ATSB take note of the vaccine status of the pilot. If vaxed, when was the most recent vaccine taken ?

The ATSB don't take gibberish on the internet as factual evidence so they won't be wasting their time going down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole. The autopsy however, should one be possible, might find some sort of medical event that the pilot was experiencing such that his cognitive abilities deteriorated during the flight.

[212man]

The ATSB don't take gibberish on the internet as factual evidence so they won't be wasting their time going down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole. The autopsy however, should one be possible, might find some sort of medical event that the pilot was experiencing such that his cognitive abilities deteriorated during the flight.
Couldn't have said it better!

[Chock Puller]

Perhaps we should agree that the Medical Examiner and the ATSB can deal with the medical aspects of the investigation and we should take any debate about Covid to the existing threads dedicated to Covid that exist elsewhere amongst the various Forums.

[Chock Puller]

Covid and COVID vaccine arguments belong in this linked Thread unless and until Covid is raised as a possible factor in this particular accident by the ATSB or other official body involved in the Investigation.

https://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/629061-coronavirus-thread.html

[SASless]

Seems clear to me Binghi that arguing about Covid, as compared to raising an issue re the deceased pilot's possible medical fitness, are too different things and as several comments caused you to take off down the path of arguing about Covid we all got asked to take such posts to the linked thread.

What is so difficult about that to understand and how can you be mystified as to what was said in the post.

[nomorehelosforme]

And any concerns about commercial pilots flying a few hundred people?

[Torquetalk]

212man, that link isn’t working on my devices.

FB please don’t troll this thread with Covid vaccination discussion. If you reallt think there is merit in discussing possible incapacitation possibly brought on by one or more of the Covid vaccines, start a new thread. And if it doesn’t fly, take it to Jet Blast.

For what it is worth, I am at a loss to grasp why any pilot would fail to grasp why the senator’s questions and conduct towards the AM representatives is wholly inappropriate. He clearly does not know who he is dealing with and what their remit is. We, on the other hand, do. We should expect professional respect for our colleagues, not applaud the cheap, playing to the audiance behaviour of a fool politician.