EC 135 crash in Austria
 

A EC 135 helicopter of the Austrian Police with 4 POB crashed today in the Achensee Lake . At least one fatal.

Achensee: Ein Toter bei Hubschrauberabsturz - oesterreich.ORF.at

skadi

R.I.P. :(

Aser

thanks but is there an english version anywhere

Courtesy of google tools:

Four killed in helicopter crash in lake
The crash of a police helicopter in the Achensee probably on Wednesday morning, four people were killed. Until now, a body was pulled and that of a 38-year-old flight attendant from Tyrol.


Lot of media and onlookers four persons on board
On board was said to be a German policeman next pilot, air rescue and an Austrian policeman.

The crash of the helicopter called for at least one life. According to unconfirmed reports about noon, a second man was rescued from the Achensee. More is to currently unknown.

After further intensive search is missing. In use are water rescue, fire and rescue helicopter.

Accident between Gaisalm and Achenkirch
What led to the accident is still unclear. Contact with the helicopter was minutes before the crash stopped. The helicopter Eurocopter 135 crashed at around 10.00 clock on the western shore of Lake Achen between Gaisalm and Achenkirch.





The accident site is cordoned off a large area.


Albert Haselwanter eyewitnesses observed accident
At 10.10 clock eyewitnesses reported the crash to the police. Albert Haselwanter had observed the crash. The helicopter had crashed nose-diving in the lake.

Thousands of parts of the helicopter are distributed on the western shore.

Eye See Alber Haselwanter describes the crash
WMA (210.9 kB)


Georg Pittl "machine immediately went down"
"The helicopter circled around first," said witness George Pittl against the ORF Tirol. "Then he pulled in low over the trees. I saw that he was constantly in decline. As a glider pilot, he is then typed up short on the water surface and crashed into the lake. The machine is now set."


PK at 14:30 clock
At 14:30 clock will inform Werner Senn, head of flight operations office, provincial police commander Helmut Tomac and a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, the public.

Just to clarify the google translation, here is a "human" translation of some of the important bits of that article:

The article actually says that one body has been recovered, the rest are presumed dead but not yet recovered, because the lake is 80m deep at the crash site.

This paragraph actually says "retrieved", as in "body retrieved", not rescued. No survivors.

"Contact with the helicopter was lost some minutes before the crash."

"The 41 year old pilot had about 2,500hrs of flight time and was considered a experienced pilot. The EC135 helicopter, at 1,300hrs, was relatively new."


The last paragraph says:

"At first, the helicopter was circling", said eyewitness Georg Pittl. "Then he pulled in low over the trees. I saw that he was descending the whole time. Like a glider plane, he bounced off the water, then crashed into the lake. The helicopter sank immediately."

If you put a web page address or text into a site such as Yahoo! UK & Ireland Babel Fish - Online Translator | Free Translation it will give you a translated version of that webpage or text.

Obviously some of the translation needs reading between lines.

Translated page for this incident HERE


RIP
:(

Seems like auto into the water.

Or hightmisjudgement with unintended watercontact?

skadi

eye witnesses tell about a final turn and a ditching with very low angle of descent on high speed, like a glider - thereafter the ship turned over and crashed into 1000 pieces.

RIP :sad:
humans are limited, their technology too :uhoh:

The pilot MP, is a very close friend of mine. Was away todya on business and only just found otu from friends of us. He has left a young family behind thats I will say. We've been friends over a decade now and my folks and his were close.

RIP to my old friend.

Chopper
My condolences for your loss and for the family of your friend and for the families of the others lost in the accident.
Jack

Thankyou YME...much appreciated though its now a case of no bodies being found as such let alone my friend.

Though if the eyewitness statements as reported is as reported word for word.....why didnt my friend fire off a mayday if he was encountering trouble therefore resulting in an autorotation into the water.

I can't make asusmptions here, but the airframe is less than 3 years old, but like everything else in life the airframe wouldn't be without problems?

How does the 135 handle in autorotation?

Thankyou all for your kind words here.

Ec135 has a very small rotor. It autorotates lake stone down, and down, and down.

I've seen a news report somewhere yesterday where they said the wreck is believed at a depth of 107 meters in the lake.

There is hardly ever a mayday call when a single pilot helicopter has a severe problem, such as loss of power or control. Too much other stuff going on, not enough time to focus on explaining the situation over the radio to people who can't do anything about it anyways...

Another eyewitness told the press, that she saw the helicopter approaching lowlevel with high speed, then they had a collision with some trees and plunged into the lake...

skadi

lelebebbel

Thanks for that sorry I should've known. Unfortunately a few hours ago I have just received the confirmation I didn't want his family nor mine to have had and that the authorities are conducting tests this morning.

Police helicopter crashed in Austria - 4 dead
 

It seems that helicopter crashed into the lake at high speed and sank immediatelly. Observer, sitting next to the pilot, was thrown out (presumably with his seat!) but his body surfaced soon after the crash.
Guest on exchange from Swiss police, and member of Austrian alpine police group were sitting in the back.
Helicopter was under command of 41 year old pilot, leader of Innsbruck police helicopter base.
No voice recorder or FDR installed, but HUMS in operation, so hopefully, investigators will be able to extract some data after recovery of wreckage.

R.I.P!

hoistop

Still only "hearsay" but I have translated to the "best of my patience"..

Vierter und letzter Toter aus Tiroler Achensee geborgen - Helikopter-Absturz - Österreich - krone.at

4'th paragraph from the end:
'Anwohnerin Angelika Maurer bekam den Absturz rund eine Stunde später auf dem Balkon ihres Hauses in Achenkirch hautnah mit: "Der Hubschrauber kam schon im Tiefflug und mit hoher Geschwindigkeit daher. Am Seeufer steht eine Baumgruppe. Diese hat er berührt, danach schlug er mit voller Wucht auf der Wasseroberfläche auf und sank in Sekunden." '


A neighbor, Angelika Maurer, witnessed the accident “up close”.. loose translation ~ “The helicopter came in low and fast. There is a group of trees at the shoreline. It [the helicopter] touched these and went on to hit the water with force, sinking within seconds.”


so there is one eyewitness claiming FOD..
As always, this is an eyewitness most likely NOT familiar with the world of helicopters.
This statement does not mean the A/C actually contacted any foreign object.. if it did, that does not say if the contact was caused by a previous distress or if the possible contact caused any distress..
(surely, FOD will not help ANY situation)



I have yet to see any evidence of FOD. Still I do not know if the Austrian police is looking for evidence of an FOD..


Just wanted to ad to the picture..