Longford, Australia, S76 Engine Failure at CDP
Can anyone tell me who does the recruiting for Esso at longford now? As I understand it was done by Helicopters Australia but that was some time ago. Is it done in house now?
Cheers
ET
Cheers
ET
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Sea Isle City, New Jersey
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Well unfortunately, I may be able to lend some info to these old posts which I just found. On 11 August 1984, I was flying a new, less than 160 hours, S-76A model from Morristown, New Jersey to Atlantic City, New Jersey to pick up passengers. While flying over Fort Dix, an Army base, one of my engines suffered a turbine burst. This resulted in taking out the second engine, severing the tail rotor drive shaft and destroying the DC Electric box which killed the AFC. This sent the aircraft all over the sky since it was disabled at a speed of 145 knots. After lowering the collective, and attempting to gain control of the aircraft, I was able to stabilize the autorotation at about 75 knots. The problem was I could see I was heading for trees and there was no alternative. My copilot, Dave Sweeny, died of internal injuries and I suffered a concussion and loss of consciousness. Having an Air Base adjacent to the crash point got us immediate assistance but I have no memory of any of that. When discussing this accident with the FAA they indicated I was number three. I think the first was an oil rig helicopter, and number two was an aircraft flown by the Amway Corporation that crashed in Lake Michigan. From having an aircraft in good enough condition to inspect, the FAA immediately grounded the S-76 Fleet until a protection kit, mentioned in some of your comments, was sent to all users and installed in the aircraft. That's the story as I remember it.
Join Date: Dec 2018
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Well unfortunately, I may be able to lend some info to these old posts which I just found. On 11 August 1984, I was flying a new, less than 160 hours, S-76A model from Morristown, New Jersey to Atlantic City, New Jersey to pick up passengers. While flying over Fort Dix, an Army base, one of my engines suffered a turbine burst. This resulted in taking out the second engine, severing the tail rotor drive shaft and destroying the DC Electric box which killed the AFC. This sent the aircraft all over the sky since it was disabled at a speed of 145 knots. After lowering the collective, and attempting to gain control of the aircraft, I was able to stabilize the autorotation at about 75 knots. The problem was I could see I was heading for trees and there was no alternative. My copilot, Dave Sweeny, died of internal injuries and I suffered a concussion and loss of consciousness. Having an Air Base adjacent to the crash point got us immediate assistance but I have no memory of any of that. When discussing this accident with the FAA they indicated I was number three. I think the first was an oil rig helicopter, and number two was an aircraft flown by the Amway Corporation that crashed in Lake Michigan. From having an aircraft in good enough condition to inspect, the FAA immediately grounded the S-76 Fleet until a protection kit, mentioned in some of your comments, was sent to all users and installed in the aircraft. That's the story as I remember it.
