AS350 Crash caught live on TV, Auckland, NZ
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It's fairly clear from the 3news.co.nz video what happened and I'm glad the media probably got it right this time.
The AS350 has a relatively short MR disc overhang ahead of the cockpit due to the positioning of the MR shaft a bit further back (great for forward view in utility work) but the same cannot be said for lateral clearance due to the unavoidable radius of the disc swept by the MR blades. Lateral clearance thus could be deceptive and a wider berth is certainly the more prudent course.
It's a huge relief that, although everyone was visibly shaken, none was hurt. I bet the lucky pilot is going to feel a few aches and pains waking up the next morning though, after the initial rush of adrenalin has passed through.
The AS350 has a relatively short MR disc overhang ahead of the cockpit due to the positioning of the MR shaft a bit further back (great for forward view in utility work) but the same cannot be said for lateral clearance due to the unavoidable radius of the disc swept by the MR blades. Lateral clearance thus could be deceptive and a wider berth is certainly the more prudent course.
It's a huge relief that, although everyone was visibly shaken, none was hurt. I bet the lucky pilot is going to feel a few aches and pains waking up the next morning though, after the initial rush of adrenalin has passed through.
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From a fixed wing pilot, a quick question.
The tail boom seems to seperate very quickly without apparent contact with anything...
Is that usual in these kind of accidents?
Thanks
DD
The tail boom seems to seperate very quickly without apparent contact with anything...
Is that usual in these kind of accidents?
Thanks
DD
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Shock loads of a violent nature will remove tails in most helicopters. After viewing a number of videos at several angles & speeds, A ground crewman "helped" unhook the long line with a pull and the line got into the rotors. What is disturbing is the pilot seat failing as quickly as it did.
Shock loads may have been involved but more attention should be paid to the main rotor contacting and rotating the fixed cable, which was attatched above and below, through the tailboom....kinda like a cheese slicer...
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The Crewman pulled the cable free of the hook-the hook & cable wound in the rotors ,If you look at the failure, The boom still had its bulkhead that bolts to the Airframe, If the cable was still attached the boom as you said it would have been sliced.
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Mayb the line didn't slice the boom, mayb as it swung around, the line pulled past the boom and pulled down on the end of the boom. That would have made the tail fold I would think.
There must be a different vid showing the line releasing from the hook because I could not see that on the 4 clips reviewed. I'll stick with the cheese slicer theory. I'm sure something close to the truth will come out in the accident report.
Glad everyone is ok
Glad everyone is ok
In this photo, there appears to be a line still attached to the hook:
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Morbid fascination
I've watched multiple videos of this episode taken from a couple of different vantage points. Seeing that airframe flex & warp after that first blade comes off is some of the most impressive chopper related footage I've ever seen. Great instructional material. As a humble R22 pilot I never realised the big rodent could move so quickly, very sobering.
"Just a pilot"
A main rotor blade strike does a lot of very bad things to the aircraft in flight. First, the initial impact, significant enough to cause structural failure of that blade, stresses everything from the point of impact to the power plant. There's typically something like 20 times the amount of useful lift in centrifugal force in the MR blades. the event would create an imbalance that could affect the aircraft dramatically. Off the top of my head, the last issue would be a difference in lift by the airfoil involved when it's "inadvertently de-optimized" by the event. That difference in lift also creates it's own imbalance as the blades doesn't flex as before and is now further out of phase.
Catastrophic structural failures, like the tail boom separating in this video, is pretty typical of this kind of event.
Catastrophic structural failures, like the tail boom separating in this video, is pretty typical of this kind of event.
The old fella should be buying Lottery Tickets in my view....except he has used up a lot of luck all in one go.
Greg back in the driver's seat
Check this link for a video of Greg being interviewed while flying his other Ecureuil.
The helicopter pilot who survived a dramatic crash at Auckland Viaduct has returned to the air, one week after the flight that almost ended his life.
Greg Gibble back in the seat today
Greg Gribble was back in pilot's seat for the first time today, and he was particularly safety conscious.
Last Wednesday he walked away virtually unscathed from a crash while installing part of the Telecom Christmas Tree in downtown Auckland.
Gribble was thrown halfway out of the B2 Squirrel helicopter which also missed several people standing below.
This morning he was back in the seat for the first time since the crash, accompanied by ONE News reporter Jack Tame.
"You guys are pretty game coming up with me, you realise that, especially today," said Gribble. And after 20 years piloting helicopters, he admitted he had never felt so nervous. "It definitely shatters your confidence...a lot of mixed emotions," he said.
The footage has wracked up more than 100,000 online views and Gribble said "it's a humbling thing to have the world watch your own near death experience".
It took a few days after he had been cleared of injuries for the adrenalin and shock to wear off.
"For those first 15 minutes where you're trying to go to sleep, you just relive it over and over and over again."
Civil Aviation is still investigating and Gribble's family business will get by over summer with its other helicopter.
A replacement helicopter costs about $1.5 million but it is not a simple process to get a new one and it will be several months before the business is back to its full complement.
"Getting over the emotional side of things is probably the main thing," said Gribble who also admitted that going out flying today had "helped a lot".
Greg Gibble back in the seat today
Greg Gribble was back in pilot's seat for the first time today, and he was particularly safety conscious.
Last Wednesday he walked away virtually unscathed from a crash while installing part of the Telecom Christmas Tree in downtown Auckland.
Gribble was thrown halfway out of the B2 Squirrel helicopter which also missed several people standing below.
This morning he was back in the seat for the first time since the crash, accompanied by ONE News reporter Jack Tame.
"You guys are pretty game coming up with me, you realise that, especially today," said Gribble. And after 20 years piloting helicopters, he admitted he had never felt so nervous. "It definitely shatters your confidence...a lot of mixed emotions," he said.
The footage has wracked up more than 100,000 online views and Gribble said "it's a humbling thing to have the world watch your own near death experience".
It took a few days after he had been cleared of injuries for the adrenalin and shock to wear off.
"For those first 15 minutes where you're trying to go to sleep, you just relive it over and over and over again."
Civil Aviation is still investigating and Gribble's family business will get by over summer with its other helicopter.
A replacement helicopter costs about $1.5 million but it is not a simple process to get a new one and it will be several months before the business is back to its full complement.
"Getting over the emotional side of things is probably the main thing," said Gribble who also admitted that going out flying today had "helped a lot".