Bent Longranger on Mount Cook, Queensland today 7th Oct 2014
 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/579...x2-700x467.jpg

Cooktown helicopter crash: Two seriously injured, one airlifted to hospital - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Very lucky not to fall off the rock!

The TV news tonight said they had landed & shut down on the rock. While climbing back on board to restart, a strong gust of wind blew it over causing some injuries. Apparently they were looking for a permanent landing site for their tourists; I guess the rock won't do! Bet they have fun with their insurance company!!

Helicopter crashes on mountain in far north Queensland


This report doesn't read like the ABC report in the OP, and these photos seem to show a JetRanger rather than a LongRanger: no fins on the end of the horizontal stabs?

http://resources3.news.com.au/images...15789c51be.jpg

http://resources0.news.com.au/images...15789c51be.jpg

I think this one's going to get interesting.

WHY would you land here?
And then go where? The news report I saw said the flight was to inspect a communication tower. Again, why land here?

Blew it over? The absence of any visible rotor blades caused me to speculate the machine was running and suffered a landing/takeoff event or dynamic rollover.

It's also worth pointing out the different perspective afforded by the photos in Post 1 and Post 4. They almost look like different sites.

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The blades (or at least the head and part of one blade) can be seen clearly in Johns post.

Hearsay contained in news reports is a notoriously unreliable method of assessing actual events, but by all means carry on if you wish.

Your observation of the perspective changes between photographs is indeed profound. Perhaps neither set of photos shows the true nature of the site.

I'm sure more will be forthcoming.

Mountain??? Shhhhhhish looks like a classic case of...of....of.......& sometimes '**** just happens' :{

Happy Landings :D

Same site
One would expect that the helicopter would not be sitting there relative intact if the blades were rotating.

No need to get wound up. This is not a conspiracy theory, just my observations. Looks like the same rock, looks like the same helicopter, but looks like a different site. It's obviously just the perspective, but is quite confusing. Change the rock and you could believe they were two different sites.

I am just interested in the chain of events that resulted in what actually happened here. I am sure it will all be revealed during the coming investigation.

Was the heli further up the rock, blown over and slid down the rock? How much wind would it take to blow a 720 kg helicopter over? WHY would you land a helicopter here? How would you suffer (reported) critical injuries in a simple 1G static roll over event? Do helicopters remain relatively intact after a dynamic rollover event?

EDIT: Radio news report today talking with the Cooktown Mayor who was a passenger on the flight. Paraphrased, 'The helicopter was hovering over the rock as we attempted to board. A gust of wind blew the helicopter into the rock. The blades disintegrated on impact as they are designed to do.'

That's a jetranger alright. I admit that I took a guess when I wrote "Long Ranger", based on the reported 6 POB.

Seems a bit harsh, especially since the tail rotor is positioned so nobody can get anywhere near it!



Oh and Two Dogs, I'm aware of at least two fatal accidents where the aircraft never left the ground, but that's a discussion for the helmet thread.

I'm surprised that lying down on the rock like that, that it didn't jump off down into the bush below. I bet you couldn't do that if you tried.

Two dogs, I imagine that you could get some quite critical injuries if the blade decided to come down through whatever area you were sitting or standing at the time. It doesn't matter what force the helicopter goes through to crash, once you get the blades touching the ground it's all going to start to hurt if something comes your way.

If as your post stated, they were hovering while the pax attempted to board, then it would be very easy to roll a JR over. Get 3 excited people all trying to clamber in to the machine at the same time, first one gets in, is just on RHS, second person jumps on the skid, now you have pilot and pax on RHS, plus someone swinging on the RHS door, over she goes.

I wasn't there, not even in the same country at the time, but that's how easy it would be "IF" they were hover loading, and the pax were inexperienced.

It was suggested here
and herethat the blades were not rotating, and the aircraft simply blew over.

I did suggest I thought the machine was running at the time it rolled over.

Two dogs, you've misinterpreted my post. I didn't claim that the aircraft wasn't running. Your earlier post mentioned your view that blades were absent. :suspect:

It simply staying that the blades appeared to be present. Their position suggests that they may be attached but it isn't clear, ergo I didn't post that.:ugh:

Feel free to surmise, but please observe relevant details, and don't put words in the keyboards of others. :=

Anyhow, carry on. :E

Two dog, I was working off the last part of your post from the mayor that said they tried to board in the hover.

All good bud.

It's just sleeping!

still there?

are they going to remove it from there?

with what?

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Nice view from the rock !:)

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Here's the "before" shot:

http://i.imgur.com/7UYROPt.jpg