Another helicopter down in New York
 

Another eyewitness report from Mrs. Ranger... Another helicopter down in New York - East River, same location as earlier this week... so far reports say everyone out and OK.

R1

Update... wasn't an eyewitness report, she saw it on Bloomberg - NOT the same location, this is couple of miles upstream...

Another Helicopter crash into the river in NYC
 

Fox News just showed video at another helicopter crash in NYC.

Video shows the aircraft to be submerged....some survivors being treated. Divers in the water.

Five people on board, all survived....no serious injuries reported at this time.

Different location to last time... last time was at the downtown Wall St. heliport, this time went down further upstream close to UN. Still on the East River.

R1

Chopper Crashes in NYC River
Friday, June 17, 2005

NEW YORK — A helicopter crashed Friday afternoon in the East River south of the United Nations (search), the second helicopter accident in four days in the waters off Manhattan, authorities said.

The accident occurred at 3:41 p.m., with five or six people aboard, police said. Preliminary reports were that all the people aboard were out of the aircraft and accounted for, with no reports on injuries, police said.




MSNBC news saying 8 on board all pulled out of east river south of UN

Now said to be an S-76...six occupants...all relatively unhurt.

From Reuters report
 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For the second time in four days, a helicopter has crashed into New York's East River, with preliminary reports saying all on board were rescued, police said on Friday.

The helicopter hit the water near 42nd Street and the FDR Drive highway just south of U.N. headquarters shortly after 4:30 p.m., police said.

Police said there were eight people on board and they were all taken to hospitals for examination.

On Tuesday, a tourist helicopter carrying seven people crashed into the river near the Wall Street financial district. All aboard were rescued by police divers.

Eerily Similar
 

Both tourist helicopters.

Everybody O.K on this. The helicopter didn't have pontoons in this and sunk into the river. They've just found the tail (don't know if anything is attached to it) 6 blocks from where it crashed about an hour ago.

A miracle nobody died.

Newarksmells

fox news

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159939,00.html

Not tourists on this one - reports say MBNA bank officials. Was an S-76, never established climb, tail struck water after a very short flight. Former NTSB guy on TV was speculating moderately intelligently about loss of ground effect when moving from hard surface to over water.

R1

They said on TV it was owned by the bank MBNA. A bystander said white smoke came out of it and then black smoke.

I thought those things could fly on one engine.

Perhaps he had an engine fire and was planning to place it down next to the river as there was a large concrete area next to the river but missed it by 50-60 feet.

I know people don't like speculation but an $8 million machine, two pilots, probably Flight Safety trained should fly on 1 engine.

Looks like the boom separated too!

It's on all the NYC channels via cable, no wonder people are afraid of helicopters.

June 17, 2005

Second Helicopter Crashes in NYC in 4 Days

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 8:46 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- A corporate helicopter plunged into the East River just blocks south of the United Nations on Friday, the second helicopter crash in four days in the waters off Manhattan. Rescuers pulled all eight on board out of the choppy water.

One of the pilots took salt water into his lungs and was in critical condition, authorities said. The other seven were in good condition and were expected to be released Friday night.

Two pilots and six businessmen were aboard the Sikorski S-76 when it went down seconds after taking off from the 34th Street heliport. The chopper made it barely one block north before it suddenly tumbled tail-first into the water.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The helicopter sank afterward, and police scuba divers were searching for the wreckage.

Three of the victims had been swept by the current more than a dozen blocks south before they were rescued, apparently by a private vessel.

The six passengers worked for MBNA Corp., based in Wilmington, Del. The helicopter was registered to MBNA and was believed headed for Wilmington.

Witness Thomas Overby, 48, said the helicopter appeared to take off normally before something went wrong. Once it hit the water, Overby spotted men in business suits screaming ''Help!'' as they bobbed in the river.

The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately return a call for comment.

On Tuesday, another helicopter crashed into the East River shortly after takeoff for a sightseeing flight. Six tourists and the pilot were hospitalized.

One of those hurt in the earlier crash, Karen Butler, of Essex, England, remained in serious but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital on Friday.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nati...ter-Crash.html

Always knew that rotating wings were less safe than fixed ones. But glad to hear that the majority are OK.

Doesn't matter how many pilots are on board. Unless flown to Cat A weights and profiles, most twins are vulnerable for a short time, from the time they leave the pad until they reach Vtoss, around 32 kt for a 76. Up till then, the pilot has the floats armed and is ready for a pop-and-plop. In fact, at FSI we practice exactly that - launch off the 32nd street heliport, an engine quits, we fire the floats and go splash at less than 300fpm.

The sim is accurate enough to rock like a floating chopper and makes bubbling noises.

But why is only one of the nose bags showing? Where are the rest of them? Why did it sink? White smoke? Black smoke? Was the Pope on board?

Hate to speculate but a friend had a rotor brake fire in a 76 the symptoms of which were white smoke followed by black.
No indication in the cockpit. He was on the ground at the time and fortunately an alert ground staff spotted it and the a/c was not too badly damaged.
Seems NY not having the best of luck these days.
You have to love the US Media - in the rush to report facts are sometimes of secondary importance - makes all their reporting suspect.
Being as there are so many media helicopters one would think they would check with their pilots for some input before reporting.
Remember the JFK jr. media frenzy?

VTOSS
 

They took off from 34th street and crashed around 42 street. I think they should have reached 32 kts by then. The distance is probably in the range of 800 to 1,500 feet.

It's great everyone got out of the helicopter as it sank. I don't think any of the pax had any HUET training.

A bystander reported that the copter seemed to be out of control but the pilot leveled it a few few above the water before going it.

I've been to Flight Safety for fw training, they can only teach you so much even though they charge $25,000 per pilot.

So who answered the "would you feel safe in a helicopter?" poll next to the article.................................

Video of downed 76 and recovery operation. You may have to watch a short commerical first...but the helicopter part will load.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/#

Is someone shooting these things down ?!?!

A colleague's getting married next Saturday and is going to NY as part of her Honeymoon. I suggested she book a heli flight - "Fantastic way to see the city, etc etc". Had to spend a fair while one morning last week explaining to her that helicopters aren't really that dangerous, actually crash very rarely, there's someone with the controls in their hands that has a vested interest in not crashing, after the crash everyone will be double checking maintenance, taking extra care and so on and so forth. Calmed her down and she was looking forward to the flight again. I'm dreading Monday, when I'll have to start all over again.

"Overby spotted men in business suits screaming ''Help!'' as they bobbed in the river"

shame they weren't politicians! :E