Tree Limbing 500 Down - Pilot Safe

[heli-cal]

A helicopter engaged in tree limbing operations for a powerline company suffered an engine failure resulting in a hard landing on 30/10.

The pilot is reported to have sustained back and neck injuries.

Helicopter Crashes While Cutting Tree Limbs For Allegheny Power- News

[heliski22]

That's the only trouble with doing powerline and related work in a single. Did a lot of it in a 206, loved every bit of it but it's 50/50 flying........

.......50 knots at 50 feet, if it quits, you've got a 50/50 shot!!!

Hope he'll be ok!!

[darrenphughes]

Surely you're not doing 50kts while limbing trees? I'd imagine it'd be more like a hover. And at 50-100 ft that's well inside the money curve. But hey, when there's mouths to be fed!

[Hedge36]

It's mostly a hover - but a lot of pot-stirring is involved. To an outsider you'd think the helo was falling apart on one of those jobs.

[MrEdd]

YouTube - Helicopter saw

Hereīs a clip of the chrashed heli, doing the kind of work as during the chrash.... don't know if itīs the same pilot thou.

[chopjock]

Surely if you are hovering a twin at fifty feet with low airspeed, amongst trees, if an engine went out you would still go down, right? Would a twin squirrel stay up with one engine out in that situation? I wonder.

[Bravo73]

Originally Posted by chopjock

Would a twin squirrel stay up with one engine out in that situation? I wonder.

An 'N' model maybe, if you were light on fuel. But even an 'F' model would give you a lot more options for where you ended up. (But at quite a considerable cost increase vs an ex-mil H500).

[BigMike]

Who makes the saw used in the video? Anyone have a link to a US operator using one?

[Airmotive]

Aerial Solutions design, build and operate.
There's another company in Norway/Denmark(?) with a similar operation.

[rotornut]

50 knots at 50 feet, if it quits, you've got a 50/50 shot!!!

How about 0 knots at 50 feet?
I was in a 206 that flamed out under those conditions. The "bathtub" and skids got banged up but we luckily all walked away.

[SASless]

With my luck....I would land on the saw after the engine quit....and wind up with a really split personality!

[BigMike]

Thanks Airmotive.
Must be an interesting thing to fly.

[helmet fire]

Even the F would be relatively ok if you punched the saw off leaving you and fuel on board.
Worst case, the second engine makes the cushion on significantly easier and far less likely to inflict head/neck/back injuries.

It is hard to point at one accident and say "see twins are needed" when so many singles are flown each day without accident. Howvere, I flew an AS355F1 on ENG operations side by side with others operating singles. Sure, they saved money and maintenance, but I never wanted to swap them! ENG meant so much time in the deadmans curve that I really appreciated the twin and the probability that I was going to fly away everytime.
I felt the same on the fires in a 212 and BK117. Get rid of the water and they would almost HOGE when OEI, quite unlike the 205 and B3.

For operations that have a very high percentage of "deadmans" time, I think twins are justifiable. Especially when I come home and look at my kids!

Unfortunatley, the dollar will prevail.