R44 crash with pics
 

Today a R44 crashed after take off in a lake. Gladly no injuries or worse .
Interesting pics of the accident.
RTV Oost - Nieuws: Helikoptercrash De Lichtmis in 5 foto's

http://www.rtvoost.nl/images/T3/800x600/107664.jpg

http://www.rtvoost.nl/images/T3/800x600/107666.jpg

http://www.rtvoost.nl/images/T3/800x600/107667.jpg

http://www.rtvoost.nl/images/T3/800x600/107668.jpg

Amazing photos, especially this one:

http://www.rtvoost.nl/images/T3/800x600/107665.jpg

Anyone know the story behind this?

Actually, I found the first photo more intriguing, with the door hanging open and the craft nearly vertical nose-down. Was the door a factor? Agreed, it would be nice to know more. :confused:

Here's a news video with a good still shot of the R44 head on, door open, and pilot at the controls.

Scroll to 00:27 - 00:28.

http://appmedia.rtvoost.nl/video/lo/190031.mp4

'passenger' perhaps?

Well, it's a guy with a cyclic and collective in his hands, but he may be just along for the ride.

Can't be much forward airspeed if the door is hanging open like that.

Hard to see through the glass but appears to not have duals installed.

Another R44 door issue??? :uhoh:

It looks like they had just departed the helipad ( the structure seen in the background of the pics )

skadi

I also note a 4 point harness for the two front occupants, I wonder if the outcome would have been the same with 3 point belts?

showboating gone wrong ( sorry about the pun) ?

Maybe lifted with friction on and or hydraulics off ? Also as the door is open I wonder if he got airborne before he was ready to lift ?
R

Closeup of the latch.
The lever seems to be positioned half way along the bottom slot. It is not in the closed position.



http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/339/r44latch.png

Mickjoebill

Position in Google Earth:

52° 35.069' N 6° 11.358' E

skadi

"Passenger" headset around neck (hurried departure?) His left arm position indicates LHS collective uninstalled?http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/3619/cropn.png

Love the close up photo of left seat occupant with his fingers crossed!:ouch:

Few Salvage Photos.

Helikopter weer boven water - Weblog Rouveen

So what happened?
 

Good job they hit water and not land. The luckiest people alive IMO.
WTF happened?
HP

Indeed. Very lucky.

These two poor souls wern't as fortunate in Italy. R22 crash.

ASN Aircraft accident 25-MAR-2012 Robinson R22 I-....

Photos.

Quotidiano.Net Fotogallery: La tragedia delle Farniole: due morti nell'elicottero caduto

It doesn't take a lot to confuse me, but two things come to my mind...

In the first image, the door is open, but in the side-on view it appears closed. If the helicopter is still in a nose down attitude, was the/could the door have been flapping from open to closed?

In the salvage images, not even the front transparencies appear to have been broken - I would have expected at least a crack.