Russian Mi-8 missing in Svalbard, Norway
Reminds me of the Canadian Bo105 accident a year or so ago - perfectly surviveable ditching with all egressing before the aircraft sank, then sucumbing to the cold due to inadequate equipment (suits, rafts, jackets)!
Welcome to the helicopter industry that is outside the highly internally regulated offshore world, which is without the economic leverage to add that kind of operating cost. 2 km out over water is nothing, we'll hover a Bell 47 on skids out there, crossing a 30 mile stretch in Jetranger the same, and we all know that a 100 yards from shore in winter nobody is going to make it, lifejacket or not. More interesting is why a multi-crew multi-engine helicopter would go in the water in the first place, a question that hasn't been answered yet and that seems to elude even the North Sea offshore industry to this day.
Possibly still some kind of loss of Control which maybe was recovered just before contact with the water. Or unprepared autorotation from low altitude -for whatever reason. Strange.
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Reminds me of the Canadian Bo105 accident a year or so ago - perfectly surviveable ditching with all egressing before the aircraft sank, then sucumbing to the cold due to inadequate equipment (suits, rafts, jackets)!
Are you referring to the accident of C-GCFU in the Mc'Lure Strait in DEC 2013?
If so it was not a ditching, it was flown into the water at speed due to lack of visual cues.
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Interesting read, from what they said about the CVR download seems like a CFIT accident. Possibly descended (gently)into the water in low visibility conditions? That would explain the minimal damage and the fact nobody was wearing life jackets. One moment you're flying the next thing you know the thing is sinking and you're in sub zero water... no time to react.
The SAR aircraft reported poor vis during the search too. I'll be interested to rad the final report.
The SAR aircraft reported poor vis during the search too. I'll be interested to rad the final report.
Gatvol
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"why do you need floats if you have 2 engines?"
Think the answer is probably the MI-8 does not float well. Its also nice to be able to buy some time to get into a raft in freezing water. Looks like maybe they had neither.
Think the answer is probably the MI-8 does not float well. Its also nice to be able to buy some time to get into a raft in freezing water. Looks like maybe they had neither.
