Cameraman takes control?
 

WPR14LA272
A AS350 crashed in June in Idaho.
This was a filming flight with a pilot and camera crew.
A message on social media, made to the seriously injured cameramen, alludes to pilot incapacitation and the cameraman reaching forward to try and take control.

"thanks for flying that bird in right side up,.."

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to all.
No doubt in due course, more details will come to light.


Mickjoebill

Is social media the font of all knowledge that is to be believed. or just pure gossip..?

Or maybe something in-between.


Mickjoebill

This accident was a LONG time ago. All survived, however the pilot will likely not fly again---he is a good friend of mine, and my company works with Reeders all the time.

Do not believe all you read in social media. There are no lessons to be learned in this particular accident----as most know, I would be the first to start posting if there was.

I will ask if I can post more details...obviously I do not wish to without his approval.

I'm sure there must be ...

"... no flight plan had been filed."

"Witnesses reported that the helicopter was proceeding in a northeasterly direction, when it made a sudden 180 degree reversal to the southwest. It began a rapid tail-first descent into the ground."

This is the US, and was a part 91 flight therefore no flight plan required. I am sure they had an internal company plan on file.

Just that it seemed relevant enough to be mentioned in the linked report!
200 mile trip over barren country on a Sunday evening; But as you say, if you haven't got to file one, why should you! :ugh:

Move along, a good friend of Gordy's, nothing to learn from an incident like this :roll eyes:

June 29 2014

http://kathrynaviationnews.com/?p=226190

http://kathrynaviationnews.com/wp-co...review-620.jpg


http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=167695


There must be some lessons to be learnt from this incident Gordy.

Flight plans don't prevent accidents.
Being on a FPL only means your body could be found faster in case you have gone missing.
A certain B230 crashed in the Indian jungle and wasn't found for 4 months.
Flight plan with civil and military clearances in hand...

Their secondary use is taxation or extortion.
Spain requires a FPL for every flight, even the pattern flights with student and CFI.
Of course you pay for it.

Nigeria extorts 6000 Naira or about $40 per leg.And you pay up front.
That includes uncontrolled airspaces, landing in Bob's backyard, the works.Has nothing to do with airport landings. They're extra.
All controlled by means of a flight plan.:ugh:

Everytime anything has to be "registered" it is about money. They tell you it's for your own SAFETY. Get it ?

I was tracking the aircraft by satellite, two minute updates. I was also listening on a scanner when a BLM engine reported the accident. I notified the Chief Pilot of the accident at that time. The pilot had a company flight plan and it worked better than a FAA VFR flight plan would have ever worked in this area.

+1 ..........

So, we've learnt that if you want flight following, don't rely on the FAA VFR flight plan if your company has a more reliable system. However, filing one if you don't have such a company system would/should be better than not at all.

Yes....An FAA flight plan basically means you have filed a route with a briefer. If you fail to close it within 20 minutes of your proposed landing time, they start making phone calls.

Yes, our own tracking system is better. This was a "fire helicopter" and has a satellite tracking system installed, and lots of people watch that......

The report stated the pilot was "incapacitated"....I am not going to divulge medical information, so if you want to talk about tracking and flight plans---that is general and not specific to this incident.

Well, in the US one can get VFR Flight Following services from ATC by just asking for it, and if you are in radar coverage that's pretty good.

MarcK...draw me a map of the Great Basin with all of the radar coverage areas below 10,000 ft, ya know where helicopters operate. You will find that coverage is nil except for the largest metropolitan areas. Technology has advanced in the last 10 years. Filling a VFR flight plan in theses areas is a poor last resort. I would not fly commercially for a company that did not have satellite flight following. If I was flying for fun I would have, at the very minimum, a personal SPOT or it's equivalent and be on a flight plan with someone that actually cared.

Filing a helicopter flight plan where this accident occurred would have just been justifying a Fed job.

Agree. But I was just responding to the shock and horror of someone not having a flight plan. I have an APRS transmitter in my plane (sometimes that's out of range, too).

Oh man....I have been wasting my time on an airplane pilot:ugh:

Yes, surprisingly it was a few months ago and yet remarkably and I think uniquely,
one that went unreported on Pprune for so long given it was a serious helicopter accident involving a US film crew:cool:


The social media post, (whether accurate or not) raises the scenario that if a pilot is incapacitated, what should passengers do? Unstrap themselves, reach over and have a go?
Not touch the collective and use cyclic and descend as if it were a fixed wing?



Mickjoebill

I have a Commercial Helicopter rating. But I don't own a helicopter.

mickjobill....the camera operator saved his life and two others. He did what he had to do.:D