EC-120 crash near Murmansk, Russia
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Royal Leamington Spa
Age: 78
Posts: 440
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I assume that the victims were already outside the aircraft and were hit by flying debris?
If the Daily Mirror is to be believed the victims were "hacked to death by blades of helicopter" but, that's the Mirror.
There is a tendency in many of the northern territories - Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia - to request pax to crouch down next to the helicopter after disembarking and remain so until the heli leaves.
If they were not under the disk then I imagine they were fairly close to it and which seems a shame give the vast expanse available to them.
I have fished and flown on the Kola since 1990 and have fished the Kharlovka and Rynda many times . Just as you do in heliskiing , you all crouch down right next to the skids . In dynamic roll over I don't think the blades would hit you but the cabin would roll onto you . If you lifted with one skid stuck you could easily bank over to a level where the blades could hit the ground or a higher rock .
We used an Mi8 and Mi4 which worked very well . Very rugged and with big tyres dealt with the ground well . At a later stage a squirrel was brought in just for moving up and down the river but didn't cope as well . Very sad as I think this is the first fatality from a helicopter on the rivers in 25 years . The Russian helicopters and pilots have always been first rate out there in my opinion .
We used an Mi8 and Mi4 which worked very well . Very rugged and with big tyres dealt with the ground well . At a later stage a squirrel was brought in just for moving up and down the river but didn't cope as well . Very sad as I think this is the first fatality from a helicopter on the rivers in 25 years . The Russian helicopters and pilots have always been first rate out there in my opinion .
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: England... what's left of it...
Posts: 161
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I wonder at this accident. Is there any need for pax to be close to the bird after disembarking? What's with this crouching business, what's the rush? Is crouching used for live drops? Unless the landing has been particularly tight to a small plateau and the pax would take a long time to clear, what prevents the take-off from being delayed 'til they walk away to the upwind rear of the aircraft?
Join Date: May 2008
Location: St Johns, Newfoundland,Canada
Posts: 330
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
EC-120 crash near Murmansk, Russia
Overdrive
Come fly in the bush a la fires , drills, etc. standard procedure mate. Spent the last couple weeks hover exiting fire fighters in Canada. Safest place considering terrain. Time is of the essence when dropping Initial attack crews. Most our ops are confined, swamp, toe in etc, no luxury of airport landings.
Come fly in the bush a la fires , drills, etc. standard procedure mate. Spent the last couple weeks hover exiting fire fighters in Canada. Safest place considering terrain. Time is of the essence when dropping Initial attack crews. Most our ops are confined, swamp, toe in etc, no luxury of airport landings.
Last edited by newfieboy; 24th Jul 2013 at 01:39.
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: England... what's left of it...
Posts: 161
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I don't doubt it where it's operationally necessary or normalized, but for tourist pax on a fishing trip? It's a large open space there. That ground is virtually flat though the surface is varied and uneven. Maybe he chose a live drop to avoid sticking etc. Just seems an unlikely scenario for an accident to occur in that way. Perhaps there's more to it.
It does seem strange that the pax weren't briefed to exit the disc before the cab lifted? Hogging the airframe while waiting for him to depart seems a little odd.
It appears on face value that his skid tip "may" have snagged smoething as he was lifting causing the cab to roll onto its side and the shrapnel took out everything within 10 metres.
Overdrive:
you mean downwind don't you.....
It appears on face value that his skid tip "may" have snagged smoething as he was lifting causing the cab to roll onto its side and the shrapnel took out everything within 10 metres.
Overdrive:
'til they walk away to the upwind rear of the aircraft
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: England & Scotland
Age: 63
Posts: 1,413
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Only if it is the safest option - is it perhaps the only downhill option hence any other direction takes them towards the disc? Clearly adding to safety concerns once pax walk out of sight of the Pilot so agree that it would take 'unusual circumstances' to make it the best option.
Having unsupervised pax crouch down next to the aircraft, in those situations, is probably going to be safer than having them walk out from under the disc, with rucksacks, fishing rods, skies etc, over rough ground with limited blade clearance.
It is the way it's done and has been done for ever .... And very safely !!!!
Just like heli skiing these guys have a lot of kit that can blow up into the blades or , like fishing rods , be inadvertently lifted . ( the first time I got out of a Mi4 onto a rock in the river , the tip of the rod was cut off by the blade and we had to splice a new ring onto the end ... Luckily it was a cane rod so not too difficult ). A number of the sites also have big rocks that people may try to climb over ... Trust me , crouching next to the skids is the safest way . Sadly just not this time .
Just like heli skiing these guys have a lot of kit that can blow up into the blades or , like fishing rods , be inadvertently lifted . ( the first time I got out of a Mi4 onto a rock in the river , the tip of the rod was cut off by the blade and we had to splice a new ring onto the end ... Luckily it was a cane rod so not too difficult ). A number of the sites also have big rocks that people may try to climb over ... Trust me , crouching next to the skids is the safest way . Sadly just not this time .
I presume the only reason this got headline news was because it was an European helicopter involved in a stoof?
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Utrecht, Nederland
Posts: 85
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
More likely because two of the victims were UK nationals.
However, apart from the British lawyer Rupert Beaumont and the British art dealer Mark Robertson, one Russian, a tour guide, also died, Alexander Tushnikov - but many reports around the world only recorded that two people died because of the priority put on reporting the two British nationals.
The son of a former legal tycoon killed in a helicopter crash on a fishing trip in Russia watched in horror from another aircraft as the tragedy unfolded, it was claimed today.
James Beaumont looked on as his father Rupert was sliced to death by the helicopter’s rotor blades when the chartered helicopter lurched on its side after landing.
James Beaumont looked on as his father Rupert was sliced to death by the helicopter’s rotor blades when the chartered helicopter lurched on its side after landing.
Last edited by Heli-News; 25th Jul 2013 at 07:37.
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: N/A
Posts: 845
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Save the pilot ...
Maybe the pax stumbled and fell onto the skid - perhaps they were worried and pushed the helicopter away by pushing on the skid - maybe there rucksack got caughtand they grabbed it - maybe they left something in the helicopter and thought they'd stop it taking off by holding onto the skid - maybe they accidentally stood on the skid - who will figure that out with certainty?
You can't blame the pilot since he is just doing what some pros here think is a standard practice - even if it is screwed up the pilot is doing it in good faith.
There is no point in destroying the pilot - he probably didn't want to hack his clients to death - he presumably knows enough about the type of terrain to operate with the appropriate caution - and he'll try harder not to let it happen again (if he has the stomach for it).
You can't blame the pilot since he is just doing what some pros here think is a standard practice - even if it is screwed up the pilot is doing it in good faith.
There is no point in destroying the pilot - he probably didn't want to hack his clients to death - he presumably knows enough about the type of terrain to operate with the appropriate caution - and he'll try harder not to let it happen again (if he has the stomach for it).
The practice , as you put it , is not screwed up !! It is a standard way of disembarking pax with kit , or in uneven terrain , and will continue to be so for years to come .
I don't see grabbing the skids or a rucksack causing this accident ..an EC 120 could quite easily take off with the weight of a passenger on the skids I would have thought . I also think that any helicopter accident involving the death of two of our nationals would always make headlines ....and quite rightly .
I don't see grabbing the skids or a rucksack causing this accident ..an EC 120 could quite easily take off with the weight of a passenger on the skids I would have thought . I also think that any helicopter accident involving the death of two of our nationals would always make headlines ....and quite rightly .