Baltimore accident
 

Apparently tragic outcome!

Baltimore accident thread

priz

I think that is unfair, it doesn't come across to me like that

The last time a Cabri incident was reported he posted a video of "Another One Bites the Dust"

Prix, I’m with you on this view as well, I thought it was well out of line considering the circumstances.

Is this the same guy who was banned last year for inappropriate comments?

Actually, I was banned for making the same joke about Guimbos you all make about Robbos ALL THE TIME!

,...but if you hypocrites (who make waaay more "inappropriate comments" whenever a Robbie crashes) want to ban me again, feel free.

- butters

Now now children!

Handbags at dawn - excellent:ok:

We have no record of you having been banned: but you have had three inappropriate posts deleted.

A ban can certainly be arranged should you want.

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Not bad for a small company ! :ok:

Vertical Magazine announces results of 2019 airframe & engine OEM surveys :

"Hélicoptères Guimbal scored the highest marks among airframe manufacturers"

http://www.verticalmag.com/press-rel...e-oem-surveys/
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Congratulations to Bruno, Raphael, Roland and all the staff at the factory. Its well deserved and hard earned, they are a great company making a great helicopter with a lot more to come in the future. Just a shame they have such bad representation in the UK.*

Out of curiosity, why do you think they have bad representation in the UK?

Ahh. Yes. Now I understand.

What did he lie about?

While there are no outright factual lies stated in the article, the writing and article structure is subtly rigged against the Cabri as a helicopter. I'll try to avoid wading too deeply into the G2 vs. R22 debate here, and rather just point out issues with PM's article.

He opens with saying that he has no "petty vendetta" against the Cabri, rather "my questions stem from an interest in aviation safety". If this were truly the case, he shouldn't have spent about half a page listing in unnecessary detail the repetitive crash-after-crash theme. The same point could have been raised with "of these 30 crashes, an overwhelming trend is loss of directional control, often attributed or related to pilot unfamiliarity with Fenestron control". Spending more than half of the article talking about repetitive crashes relating to the fenestron, then subtly inserting the sentence "Guimbal has altered a few things on the helicopter - warning lights and so forth - but pilots keep having the same accident" subconsciously rigs an unsuspecting reader to think the Cabri's design is flawed and that Guimbal should change it but are sitting idle, not caring about the safety of their helicopter.

As a journalist (it was tempting to put air quotations around Journalist but taking cheap shots isn't worth it), his decision to make crashes the core element of an article named "We need to talk about the Cabri" isn't accidental. The entire article reads more along the lines of "look at all these Cabri crashes I can list off - meanwhile, look at how safe the R22 is".

Read the article with a decent eye for deceiving writing and it's clear to see he never intended to use the article for a positive or constructive purpose - rather he was given a platform to share his own personal views (albeit in a subtle way) and that he did, while dressing it up as an article for aviation safety.

*If you disagree with me, remember this is the internet and you can always ignore my point of view.

All helicopters are "flawed". That is to say they have design compromises that will bite you if you don't understand them. It is becoming pretty clear that the fenestron on the Cabri is one of those design compromises. Just like the performance limits of the tail rotor on the 206 are a compromise. Or the main rotor system on any Robinson. Or the Squirrely nature of the Squirrel on landing. Or, or, or...

Everyone has their favorite helicopter they like to defend. Everyone has their favorite helicopter they like to hate. Fly and maintain any of them, from Mosquito homebuilt to an MI-26, within manufacturer's limits and you will be just fine. The trick is doing just that. Some are harder than others to do that with. I've got a whopping 3 hours on feneston equipped helicopters between a G2 and an EC130, all after I supposedly knew how to fly helicopters. I found yaw control in the hover to be quite a bit more difficult compared to my first 10 minutes in an R22 before I even knew how to fly one. On the other hand, it still takes all my concentration to auto a Robinson. The first time I auto'd a G2 the entire thing was a yawn. Different helicopters, different challenges.

Bottom line: the truth hurts if it messes with your vision of reality.

Losses of yaw control on helicopters
 

The reproach that can be made about the article in "Pilot" is not what is said of the Cabri, but that it is presented as a problem of the Cabri only. A small look in accident reports databases.(and you could expect that from a journalist) shows that it is a global problem on small heicopters.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....695022440b.png
Helicopters involved in loss of yaw control accidents found in accident reports databases (2010-2016)