ERA BoCal-105 Accident
 

This looks like a ERA BoCal 105 that hit the deck a little hard Attached the link to the newspaper site.
Sufered minor injuries

Pilot suffers minor injuries in crash | HoumaToday.com | The Courier | Houma, LA

By Raymond Legendre
Staff Writer


Published: Monday, September 7, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 9:29 p.m.
SCHRIEVER — A Sunday afternoon helicopter crash at a small, private heliport in Schriever resulted in minor injuries for the aircraft’s pilot, authorities said.

Investigators say the pilot was attempting to land the helicopter when mechanical problems caused the red, black and white craft to fall a short distance to the ground, said Schriever Fire Chief Ken Pitre.

The crash happened about 2:30 p.m. at the ERA Helicopters heliport at 221 N. Main Project Road. The crash broke the rotor blades and glass on the craft.

The pilot, whose name has not been released, was taken by Acadian Ambulance to Thibodaux Regional Medical Center.

The pilot was test-flying the helicopter in search of pre-existing mechanical problems, Pitre said. He did not know specifics about the mechanical problems.

Members of the Schriever Fire Department and officials with ERA Helicopters, which contracts with Williams Exploration & Production Co., responded to the crash and cleared the debris.

The heliport is used daily to transport Williams employees, Pitre said. On most days, the heliport has three to four helicopters on site. There were three there Sunday, the crashed craft and two others.

“This place here has not had a crash on the private heliport,” Pitre said. “So they have a good safety record.”

National Transportation Safety Board officials, en route to Schriever late Sunday, will investigate the wreck.

The craft was the second helicopter to go down in Terrebonne this year.

In January, an oilfield helicopter crash in a Terrebonne marsh killed eight people.

That craft, owned and operated by Lafayette-based Petroleum Helicopters Inc., carried two pilots employed by PHI and seven oilfield workers from two companies, Dynamic Industries and MMR Offshore Services. One worker, Steven Yelton of Floresville, Texas, survived.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation indicates a hawk hit the windshield minutes after it took off from Morgan City bound for a Shell production platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

To my knowledge so:

Most important first, the pilot suffered injury to an arm and is going to do some surgery due to a shattered bone but is otherwise fine and there was no pax due to it being a maintenance flight.

The A/C had been reported having some problems with minor lock up in the hydraulics for the cyclic. The issue had been addressed once before but a couple of flights later the issue re-occurred. This time it was taken in for a more thorough inspection where to my knowledge to this date nothing was found.
The flight was a maintenance flight after above mentioned inspection and the heli suffered from the above mentioned problem once again this time to a larger effect causing more or less lock up of cyclic control and also affecting the collective.
The pilot started a descent and using the pedals for directional control to the best of his capabilities.
The lock up to my knowledge but I can be mistaken, happen in a 100ft HOGE for a engine check.
Aircraft impact was some 300ft/min

I'm not familiar with the 105 so maybe I shouldn't comment but... how do you do an engine check in a 100 foot OGE hover?!? Do you pull one throttle back and see what happens?!?!?

Mmmmm ...

... how do you do an engine check in a 100 foot OGE hover?


He MAY have been doing a governor or torque matching check .... not the ideal way of doing it .... we may not know till he tells ....

:confused:
:eek:

For once, the media appear to be underplaying the damage sustained in an aircraft accident!

http://www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcsi...W=600&border=0

Journalists and sensations
 

The media and broken glass...:}

Yep don't think it will fly straight after that , wonder where the tail stinger is buried .

Would not just pulling a few pins...pull a few quick disconncts and a few bolts.....remove the hydraulic module and replace it be closer to solving that hydraulic problem? That was one of the many nice things about the MBB's....as I recall.

Pull an engine off line at a 100 foot hover.....now that would be interesting!

You pull one engine off line in a 100 foot hover, and if you make it to the ground in one piece it's a 'pass'. Two or more pieces and it's a 'fail'? Then you go up again and do the other one?!?

Sorry for thread drift, after the bird hit was pilot incapacitation reason for loss of control, if so was he wearing a helmet, if not would it have made a difference?

mickjoebill

No - the bird did not enter the cockpit. I think the thread on the accident contains more info.