EC120 Crash At Swansea Airport
 

An EC120 rolled over during hover taxi/landing at Swansea airport. No major injuries.

More info : BBC News

Try a twin Squirrell :oh:

TC - Do you mean it was an AS355 that rolled over, or that you should try and roll over an AS355 because it rolls better :confused:

:E

EC 120 in the Beeb picture though!

Looked at the pics on the news website and definately EC120 on its side.

:E

I swear when I checked Mikeb's link the picture showed a squirrell. Coupled with the fact that someone just rang me and told me that a twin squirrell had just 'stoofed' in S wales.

I look again, now at the link, and the bloody picture has been changed...honest, guv!

"Bit late on the collective,Hoskins"

It was definitely an EC120 Reg EI-IZO. It’s registered to Cloud 9
Helicopters ltd, Co Carlow Ireland.

Rumour has it that he clipped the apron as he was hovering to park after a rotors running re-fuel…. Apparently there are a few extra holes in the hangar and some cars in the car park were hit with flying debris. Two Cessna training aircraft were also hit with debris.

I know old TC gets off his trolley sometimes but I can't let people think he's finally lost his marbles especially now he's a TV star. ;)The BBC had a photo of a twin Squirrel and changed it.

Phew thanx HM. Don't know if I like the sound of 'old' though:)

Was Thomas Coupling Wrong Again ?
 

No surprise there then.
That contact of yours let you down again TC ?
You should always check your info. before gobbing off.
Still easy mistake to make, one crashed Eurocopter disintegrates very much like another.
Lucky it wasn't a 135 or the casualties might have been higher.

2 quick points.. I was at Swansea on Saturday, don't know how the crash occurred, but the aircraft appears to have covered quite a reasonable distance on its side, judging by the witness marks on the tarmac, and secondly.. I noticed Griff Rhys Jones having a flying lesson down there.. somebody be sure to tell him thats not how to land a helo, not even for comedy factor:p

That was hardly called for Joburg.

Let's guess what JoBurg flys:rolleyes:
Does it start with a B and hang in a church tower:hmm:
Have to agree with MightyGem:ouch:

Dynamic: It's even funnier than that. [Rhymes with Buster!].
Secondly, he's not even a pilot:confused:

I was lucky to get a tour of the AAIB hangars today, as part of the SHAG day held in Farnborough by the CAA.

The EC120 in question is there, the cabin area is substantially intact, by which I mean it was on its skids, a few broken windows, dangling panels and missing tailboom, but no apparent damage to the seats or seat structure.

Some mention was made of a known pitch authority/cyclic margin issue at forward CG with a tailwind, and apparently there's a mod to add a weight in the tailboom. Anyone more experienced on EC120s confirm the veracity of the comments ?

As a result of seeing the interior, I was minded to ask if anyone knows what crashworthiness features are built into the B206 ?

I was there too, Fairy... perhaps we met. There ought to be some special sub-Masonic greeting by which ppruners can recognise each other.
Most sobering, I found, was the molten wreckage of Steve Hislop's R44; CFIT, apparently.

EI-IZO
 

Spoke with the usual pilot of that craft today, he wasn't piloting at the time but his information as backed up by investigators and insurance is the unfortunate occurance of a Fenestron tail rotor stall!

James:

Is this the mythical "Fenestron stall" which in any other type is labelled LTE, and for which the prevention and cure is thinking ahead ?

I'm not trying to cast stones - it's just a) we had a discussion about this some while ago and it seems LTE/FS is avoidable, b) cos it was mentioned on Tuesday as being included soon in the PPL(H) syllabus (and, one hopes, the CPL syllabus) and c) I write from a position of inexperience in these matters.

I see the old chestnut of Fenestron stall raising its ugly head again. I thought this had been thrashed out long ago. Extensive trials by Eurocopter and independently by Boscombe Down have shown that it is possible to regain control after so-called Fenestron stall. Nr Fairy is right to say that this phenomenon is now more accurately referred to as Loss of Tail Rotor Authority. The trials showed that even at extremely high rates of rotation it was possible to regain control by applying full opposite pedal and keeping it applied. The rate of rotation always (even if it sometimes took a while) reduced and eventually stopped. And these trials were conducted on the Gazelle with the older, less efficient feneston. The new generation fenestrons on newer Eurocopter products (EC 120, EC 130, EC 135, EC 155) all take advantage of developments to improve both the efficiency and the noise signature.
Unfortunately, I think that if this accident was caused by loss of tail rotor authority, then it was almost certainly avoidable.

PS I think the Boscombe Down report may be available to the public. Anyone know of any sources?