Main reason for accidents?
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bojracing:
Not sure what you mean by 'the margin they had in the single has become lessened'.
In general, having more system redundancy should (and I emphasize should) mean that there is greater pilot awareness of the aircraft and knowledge of what to do should one of the systems fail. A generator failure, for example, in one of these twins is a pretty spectacular non-event, where it is of more immediate concern in a single, especially one with electronic displays.
If it means more complex decisions, that should also not be too difficult to deal with, given proper training (and again, I stress proper training)
Not sure what you mean by 'the margin they had in the single has become lessened'.
In general, having more system redundancy should (and I emphasize should) mean that there is greater pilot awareness of the aircraft and knowledge of what to do should one of the systems fail. A generator failure, for example, in one of these twins is a pretty spectacular non-event, where it is of more immediate concern in a single, especially one with electronic displays.
If it means more complex decisions, that should also not be too difficult to deal with, given proper training (and again, I stress proper training)
As part of the planned safety evenings research I've gone through every accident report involving a UK helicopter that I can find since 01 Jan 2000, mainly these are AAIB reports but some are from foreign investigation bodies.
The primary cause of UK registered accidents is mishandling / loss of control in the hover causing heavy landings and / or tail rotor strikes usually followed by some sort of rollover. Most cases involved a training sortie of some kind some dual, some solo, figures on those will follow shortly.
The primary cause of UK registered fatal accidents is Loss of Control in IMC.
The figures are here http://www.helicoptersafety.org.uk/commonaccidents.asp.
The figures will be expanded slightly later this week to show in more detail what I state about accident causes.
I plan to go further back through the accident reports if time ever permits.
The primary cause of UK registered accidents is mishandling / loss of control in the hover causing heavy landings and / or tail rotor strikes usually followed by some sort of rollover. Most cases involved a training sortie of some kind some dual, some solo, figures on those will follow shortly.
The primary cause of UK registered fatal accidents is Loss of Control in IMC.
The figures are here http://www.helicoptersafety.org.uk/commonaccidents.asp.
The figures will be expanded slightly later this week to show in more detail what I state about accident causes.
I plan to go further back through the accident reports if time ever permits.
Last edited by VeeAny; 20th Feb 2008 at 06:52.
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Why do helicopter jockeys crash?
Um.
Take a small group of helicopter pilots, who have a few decades of experience. Talk to them. Privately. I bet you will get most of them to admit that at SOME STAGE, they scared the stuffing out of themselves, by doing something so STUPID, they couldn't believe it themselves.
My point: Believe it.
Been there. Gotten away by the skin of my teeth, with jangling nerves, thinking: "WHATDAF#@!??K was I THINKING???"
It slows you down...
We are human. Once in a while, along comes that great learning experience, that humongous scare, that moment when you KNOW your heart for ever has your teeth marks on it (it was in your mouth)...
After that... you slow down. Checklist? Oh, yes, checklist!!
Company flight manual? Oh, yes, flight manual!
Weather? Oh, yes, weather!!!!
So many checklists and ops manuals are written, literally, in blood.
Why do helicopter jockeys crash?
I think they forget...how fallible, how human, how prone to distraction, they are.
I'm working hard on being an old fart. Kind of like being an old fart. With a lot of time. And a bunch of bar stories. I do find... myself backing out much earlier. Saying "no" much sooner. And watching guys with a quarter of my flight time rushing straight on in...
Have I bent one yet? No. Have I been "OH! SO CLOSE!"
Yep... Yep.... Yep-yep-yep.
Take a small group of helicopter pilots, who have a few decades of experience. Talk to them. Privately. I bet you will get most of them to admit that at SOME STAGE, they scared the stuffing out of themselves, by doing something so STUPID, they couldn't believe it themselves.
My point: Believe it.
Been there. Gotten away by the skin of my teeth, with jangling nerves, thinking: "WHATDAF#@!??K was I THINKING???"
It slows you down...
We are human. Once in a while, along comes that great learning experience, that humongous scare, that moment when you KNOW your heart for ever has your teeth marks on it (it was in your mouth)...
After that... you slow down. Checklist? Oh, yes, checklist!!
Company flight manual? Oh, yes, flight manual!
Weather? Oh, yes, weather!!!!
So many checklists and ops manuals are written, literally, in blood.
Why do helicopter jockeys crash?
I think they forget...how fallible, how human, how prone to distraction, they are.
I'm working hard on being an old fart. Kind of like being an old fart. With a lot of time. And a bunch of bar stories. I do find... myself backing out much earlier. Saying "no" much sooner. And watching guys with a quarter of my flight time rushing straight on in...
Have I bent one yet? No. Have I been "OH! SO CLOSE!"
Yep... Yep.... Yep-yep-yep.
