Vegas helicopter crash
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: Australia
Operated across Royal Australian Air Force, Navy and Army (with lettering accordingly). Primarily for training, but some operational off the back of our frigates, including while deployed in middle east. I am fairly certain they were all delivered as AS350B's and only later upgraded to AS350BA. No longer in ADF service now, but a number came onto the Australian civilian register after retirement from ADF.
Joined: Sep 2004
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL(H)
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From: Canada
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Joined: Apr 2022
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Flew in the back of one of those during a pleasure flight over New York.
After the safety briefing and life vest training the first thought that crossed my mind as they strapped me in the back was "If this goes down over the water good luck getting out of the back".
Having said that it was a very pleasant flight, Could hardly tell it was moving.
After the safety briefing and life vest training the first thought that crossed my mind as they strapped me in the back was "If this goes down over the water good luck getting out of the back".
Having said that it was a very pleasant flight, Could hardly tell it was moving.
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 2,081
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From: Redding CA, or on a fire somewhere
I flew left hand drive, but it had the regular FFCL, I do not believe there was a mod available for civilian LH drive.
Joined: Sep 2002
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
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From: Great South East, tired and retired
We operated a LH-pilot version, built in Canada, and it had the rotten floor-mounted throttle quadrant next to the door. The collective lock was also down there, and it grabbed the lever during my endorsement when I lowered it to do an auto. Discovered it locked when it came time for the initial pitch-pull to control RRPM in the flare, so I just kept the speed up and lowered the nose to level the skids and we bounced and skidded on the grass to a stop. So, you can pull off an auto without using collective AT ALL. But I then snapped the lock off so it wouldn't do that again.
A keeper.
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: Australia
Joined: Jul 1999
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From: Warrington, UK
Joined: Dec 2006
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From: yes
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2004
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From: nappyville
The NTSB has released its report here.
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Crash Video
Joe Munoz Maverick Letter
Some interesting facts were published in the report. Prior to the accident and employment at Papillion Helicopters, pilot Marius Calderwood had already completed approximately 7.6 hours of Type Rating Training at Maverick Helicopters, then his training was terminated. The pilot then went to complete additional type training and employment at Papillion with out disclosing his previous experience at Maverick ??
Report attachments / dockets
Crash Video
Joe Munoz Maverick Letter
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: The pilot’s failure to apply anti-torque pedal input in a sufficient, timely, and sustained manner while attempting to arrest a turn during a hover-taxi, which resulted in a loss of directional control. Contributing to the severity of the occupants’ injuries was the inconsistent performance of the seats’ energy-absorption devices, which was likely due to the rotational forces encountered during the accident which were not required to be accounted for during the
seat certification process.
seat certification process.
Joined: Jul 1999
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From: Warrington, UK
Looking at the video, the same happened to me and a fellow student, in a Gazelle in more or less the same situation: ie, a slow speed left hand turn, and of course, pulling power to get clear of the ground makes things worse. We managed to recover the situation.
Joined: Dec 2005
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From: England
Originally Posted by [email protected]
Yes, there are a couple of emergencies on the Gazelle that require taking the throttle out of the gate and selecting a power manually.
The only difference is that on a free power turbine the datum maintained is usually Nf while on the fixed spool engine the datum is Ng - other than that the fuel flow is still altered to maintain that datum with the capability of a manual over-ride in case of malfunction.
It's certainly not as easy with a roof mounted throttle as it is with a collective mounted one though.
The only difference is that on a free power turbine the datum maintained is usually Nf while on the fixed spool engine the datum is Ng - other than that the fuel flow is still altered to maintain that datum with the capability of a manual over-ride in case of malfunction.
It's certainly not as easy with a roof mounted throttle as it is with a collective mounted one though.
While on the Arriel engine course at Turbomeca we asked why the starting procedures were different between the 365C and the 365N.
The answer was that it didn't actually matter but it had been changed because the Australians had a few incidents with Kiowas..
The original start procedure for the Arriel was open the throttle to idle then press start. This was changed to press start then open the throttle.
Dual rated pilots on the 350 and Kiowa had used the wrong technique on the Kiowa which the Allison did not appreciate.
