Helicopter down over Dartmoor

[topcat28]

BBC NEWS | England | Devon | Four escape air accident injuries

"The helicopter pilot, who was the aircraft's only occupant, was not hurt in the crash... But he suffered an arm injury after climbing out to check the damage."

How unlucky is that?!

Glad no-one was (seriously) hurt though...

[FLY 7]

Don't think that's correct. There are a reasonable number of Enstroms, with a pretty good safety record, AFAIK.

[EN48]

What is it about Enstroms? There's hardly any in the UK yet they seem to crop up in accidents quite a lot.

Dont know about the UK, but in the US the Enstrom accident history is quite favorable. The 480, for example, has experienced only 5 minor accidents since being introduced in 1994, none fatal. All attributed to pilot error.

[misterbonkers]

cross reference with age of aircraft?

is a 20 yr old aircraft more likely to have a ding than a 6 month old robinson?

it would also be interesting to compare accidents rate for the same types training vs private vs commercial.

[rotorboater]

No one has died in an Enstrom in the UK full stop. Wish I could say the same about the Robinson

[RVDT]

Of course the little gems of info here assume that the "helicopter" is responsible for the accident!

[griffothefog]

Are not the Enstrom 280's fuel injected? That would rule out carb icing accidents, no?? I think Dennis Kenyon would have a good idea of it's safety record in the UK. Also remember it was heavily used as a crop sprayer back in the 70's and 80's, something the R22 would be less utilised as, hence less exposed to danger, excepting inexperienced pilots of course. My mate Cookie from NZ would have a tale to tell about Enstrom's from the crop spraying point of view