Main reason for accidents?
 

As a trainee who is about to start his PPL(H), I was just wondering if there is a list of the main reasons for a helicopter being involved in an accident or is there one main reason even?

I believe one of, if not the most common cause of aviation accidents (at least, according to my ATPL(H) notes) is CFIT, or controlled flight into terrain.

Common and received wisdom seems to indicate that many accidents result from press-on-itis, or (to look at it in another way) flying in conditions that exceed your skill levels and/or the limitations of your aircraft.

The least experienced press on, while the more experienced turn back to join the most experienced, who didn't set off in the first place.

Pandalet,

I've seen that 'saying' a few times, and how true it probably is!

I read somewhere that accidents are very very rarely down to mechanical breakdown of the aircraft but usually due to 'operator error', is this true?

K77.

Heli Accidents
 

K77

Try reading
Fatal Traps For Helicopter Pilots

by Greg Whyte (£23.99 from Flightstore)

http://www.flightstore.co.uk/fatal_t....52.dept_l3.0/

It is compelling reading but you might want to leave it until part way through your training.

Ian.

There are statistics and if you hunt around enough on the CAA website you may find them! I reckon Panda's right - CFIT!

I remember being shown them at a CAA Small Helicopter Safety Seminar; not sure if these are still being run but they were useful!

Cheers

Whirls

Thanks Ian,

Not sure if i'd even start my training if I read that book!!!!!

Looks like it is a must read though at some point!

When I did the Robinson Safety Course I believe Richard said that the top 3 were;

• CFIT
• Loss of rotor RPM control
• Wire strikes

I think these were derived from US stats where wire strikes are more common because they hoon around at zip feet. Not sure if these are Robinson only stats, but I'd bet they're fairly consistent across all makes.

I guess (like a lot of stats) you can read them more than one way. Was an engine failure followed by loss of rotor rpm control by the pilot a hardware or warmware problem?

Do your walkrounds, make sure the machine is well maintained, fly within your limits and weather conditions - live long and prosper!

Just typed the letters CFIT into Wikipedia, what a fantastic explanation they give with many detailed examples of where CFIT has been the cause.

Research published last year suggests the single largest cause of small helicopter fatal accidents were CFIT and spatial disorientation/loss of control. Following that is obstacle/terrain strikes in the low-level environment, and training mishandling accidents. See CAA Paper 2007/03 "helicopter flight in degraded visual conditions". Clearly the driver is the weakest link.

Hey mate, good luck with your training.
Now once you get into it, perhaps start reading accident reports, including fatal ones. Don't let them put you off though, but treat them as a learning tool. As in Gregs book (well worth reading) it says "there are no new ways to crash helicopters, as its all been done before."
By reading these, you will learn a few things from others unfortunate events.

I used to think that pilots got a raw deal as they always seemed to take the blame. Now that i'm a pilot a realise the reason - 99% of the time aircraft crash because the clot flying it made a mistake. A bit like car crashes - cars don't tend to fall apart driving down the road & they don't crash - people crash them. If you're airworthy and stay above 500' next to big open fields you'll last a long time as a helicopter pilot. Except you won't - because thats no fun.

i was always thought (as a former ga plank driver, just about to get into ga flying again via the rotary way) that fuel starvation (including carb ice) was pretty close to cfit. is it not such an issue on the heli world :confused:

The pilot is the weakest link and is the cause of most accidents.

But the CAA deem two engines are somehow 'safer'. Yeah right...

The CAA is your friend :eek:

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.asp...detail&id=2887

Also take a look at :
AIC 100/2007, (Pink 129), 8 November, Safety
HELI-GASIL 2002

John

K77, This is exactly the sort of thing we hope to cover on our safety evening meeting at Newcastle. This and a lot more and also some true stories from some of the slightly more experienced members. :hmm:
With such wonderful titles as:-
I learned about flying from that!
My friend piled in in bad weather!
How to kill yourself in 60 seconds!
etc etc

How not to kill yourself?? Stop and think.

It's A real simple concept!

:-)

Snow .

As in pretty much all other accidents, car, home, etc etc

Loss of situational awareness, summed up as "What is going on around me and why, and what can go wrong in my present circumstances"

Snow???? Have you been sniffing the Taittinger again Bertram?

Cheers

Whirls

K77

Whether it is CFIT or wires, press-on-itis in clouds, fog or snow or any other name we care to put on these things, all of them boil down to the same thing... Pilot error!

Of course there are times when there is a catastrophic mechanical/structural failure and there is little a pilot can do but more often than not...

Have a punt around the AAIB website if you haven't already, it makes for some interesting reading:sad:

PR

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2040/...ea6f355c_m.jpg

Snow?! This is snow and about -25C. Later in the week it got down to -50C but we kept the aircraft in the hangar!