Contact info at Red Aviation
 

Hello hello!

To all who've posted here as Max's friends and colleagues: by now most of you know the flight was operated by Red, Max's company. I am touched by all of your comments, but as you are under psuedonyms, I don't know who you are to thank you (tho' I can work some out - Geordie pilot!!) I would very much appreciate it if you contacted me with your real names, email me at [email protected]

Max was a clown who filled my every day with madness for the last 14 months. I enjoyed every moment of it, and Red will be adrift without our loony leader.

But as Max would say, 'it's all good'.

Many thanks again.

Red Aviation Staff

I also knew Max from California, good memories indeed.

RIP

Unbelievable! I trained with Max in California, had many a pint together - he was a great laugh and always the man with the plan.
My condolences to his family.

I flew with Max in Bournmouth and am numbed by the news. He was one of the most enthusiastic people I have had the pleasure to meet; great fun both in the aircraft and out for a beer. A friend that will be sadly missed.
Condolences to family and friends.

I was also privileged to have known Max when he was starting out in helicopter flying, my condolences to his family and friends
May you Rest in Peace Max

Good evening to you all.

Does anyone have any further information on the accident?

Any more from the AAIB?

East Anglian Daily Times report

TRIBUTES have been paid to a pilot who was killed in a horrific helicopter crash.
Matt Radford, 34, from Worlington, near Mildenhall, died when the Augusta A109 he was flying plummeted into a field near Bournemouth Airport.
Both Mr Radford and his passenger, lawyer Stephen Curtis, were killed instantly when the helicopter hit the ground and burst into flames just a mile from its destination.

A former Mildenhall Upper School pupil, Mr Radford grew up in Worlington, where he had lived with his parents, Dennis and Gloria.
After leaving home, he started up his helicopter company, Red Aviation, four years ago, which was based at Bournemouth Airport and offered flight training, executive travel and leisure trips.
Residents in Lark Close, Worlington, were still trying to come to terms last night with the death of their neighbours' son, who was well-known in the village.

Staff at Red Aviation also said in a statement: "We are devastated by the tragic loss of our colleague in Wednesday's accident.
"Matt was an experienced, dedicated commercial pilot and instructor and he will be greatly missed by his friends and the industry as a whole. Our sympathy goes out to the families and friends of the two men."

Nice to see that they managed to research it so well.

Couldn't even get MAX'S name right

:( :* :* :(

He was a great instructor!!! RIP

KMS

It was more that you'd have thought they'd have know that, and respected his preference and wishes.

HeliEng

I know what you mean, it is unfortunate, but the most important thing is they got across that Max was popular, respected and will be missed by those who knew him in his home village by his staff at Red Aviation.

There is a BIG difference between a Robbo and a 109E: there is much more to go wrong in the latter, requiring serious helpings of experience. Apparently, the gear was down but impact was at high speed in the opposite direction to the runway with the engines, transmission and even tail ripped from the airframe. One cannot discount disorientation in bad weather, at low altitude, I guess?

Apparently, I guess.

I think I would leave the guesswork to the experts!

Thanks for the factual information in the middle of your post AstraMike.
Shame about the beginning and the end.

The UK AAIB have issued a Special Bulletin regarding this accident, detailing the facts as currently known.

It can be found here.

I was told the aircraft had previously suffered a screen failure.

??

Flintstone, in answer to your question marks, I would presume a 'screen failure' refers to the EFIS screens fitteed to the A109E.
There are however old fashioned 'steam driven' standby instruments to cover for this very failure (which is not unknown, I had one myself). The standby's are small but clear and present no problem to use IMC or at Night (again personal experience). Let's what and see what AAIB say.

Sorry YBOTT, I should have made myself clearer.


By "??" I was wondering if anyone knew if there'd been previous failures as opposed to asking what such a failure was.

The initial report suggests something other than pilot error, not that it makes the news any easier.

It was his bloody round too.

Guys this is very sad, and although I did not know Max I know many people who did, and it seems understandable that he is so well liked. I have not even flown rotary for some time. However in a forum open to the press and public we do owe UK helicopter operations some honesty, especially in the safety records. Helicopters are generally very safe and reliable. We can't start saying "it doesn't look like pilot error" on the strength of this report.At night. Over an unlit area.

The area of the crash has almost no lighting, very few buildings. Talking to people who were there at the time that is a generous interpretation of the weather, with cloud reported around 600 feet in the area, and mist. Under SVFR, 1 mile from a runway with ALS, instrumentation failures should not be critical.

I'm not saying it was pilot error. I am saying there is nothing in this report that "...suggests something other than pilot error". We don't want to be doing exactly what we criticise the press for, jumping the gun on the cause. I'm with YBOTT on this. Wait for the full report.

Not sure if this has been posted anywhere else, sorry if it has, but The Times today ran an article that strongly hinted at the possibility that this could have been something more sinister than a tragic accident:



March 29, 2004

British millionaire feared for his life before fatal helicopter crash
By Daniel McGrory and Simon de Bruxelles



A BRITISH lawyer who helped to create one of the world’s richest companies told a colleague that he feared for his life just before he was killed in a helicopter crash this month.
Stephen Curtis would not identify any specific threat, but talked of his concerns about business rivals in Russia, including some with close links to the Kremlin.

Mr Curtis, who would never allow himself to be photographed, had begun to take extra security precautions, such as telling only his closest aides about his travel plans. One report claims that Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Moscow oligarch who is in jail in Russia, instructed lawyers to make Mr Curtis the sole signatory to their company’s vast bank accounts.

Mr Curtis, 45, was also allegedly being urged to move his own sizeable financial holdings in Menatep, an oil and banking company, to a different offshore bank amid suggestions that the Kremlin was trying to seize its funds.

Days after confiding his private fears about his safety, the multimillionaire died in a mysterious crash as he was being flown home to his castle in Dorset on March 4. So little wreckage survived the fire that the Air Accidents Investigation Branch says that it may be many months before it can say for certain what happened during the last moments of Mr Curtis’s short flight from London. His remains have still not been formally identified from the wreckage.

His wife, Sarah, a former opera singer, has refused to say anything about his death.

In the world in which he operated Stephen Curtis's violent death was bound to create a glut of rumours and conspiracy theories which will proliferate the longer it takes the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) to deliver its official report.

An AAIB spokesman said yesterday that its investigation could take up to six months to complete. The helicopter's remains are being reassembled in a hangar at the investigation base in Farnborough.

As well as examining the wreckage minutely investigators want to talk to witnesses about the final seconds of the flight. They have contradicted initial reports that the helicopter flew into power lines.

Electricity and telephone companies insist that none of their lines was damaged and there had been no explanation as to why witnesses such as Sarah Price describe hearing the helicopter approach, then a silence before it hit the ground.

The pilot of the six-seater Augusta 109 helicopter, Max Radford, had been in touch with air traffic controllers but had not sent out a distress signal.

Mr Curtis was the closest confidant of Mr Khodorkovsky, arguably Russia’s richest man, who was arrested last October on charges of fraud and tax evasion. Mr Khodorkovsky is an opponent of President Putin and the Kremlin is keeping a close watch on the crash investigation.

Stephen Curtis was the brains behind the creation of a network of offshore companies for the powerful Menatep group, which helped Mr Khodorkovsky and his associates to control the Russian oil giant Yukos. One Menatep insider said: “Stephen was a frightened man. He was the company. He knew everything.”

Menatep is said to be worth more than $30 billion (£16.3 billion). Mr Curtis was appointed its managing director last November when his Russian predecessor was arrested.

His inquest is due to open tomorrow under the direction of the Bournemouth, Poole and East Dorset Coroner. It will be adjourned and a full hearing will take place after air accident investigators conclude their findings.

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For some reason the online article was not as complete as the one printed so I have copied the missing section in above.

If any of those who knew the pilot consider posting this insensitive, I apologise, but I thought that given it was in The Times that it ought to be noted.