JetRanger crash Honolulu HI
 

What looks like a Bell JetRanger (corrected) just crashed in Honolulu Hawaii. No fatalities, but one individual in critical condition. There's a video of the crash:



Edit: link to news story: http://khon2.com/2016/02/18/emergenc...na-memorial-2/

Can the 206 loose drive to rotor system. Sprag failure.
Looks like power drive loss not engine failure.
Or Pax putting hand on collective

That is definitely a JetRanger, not a LongRanger. No vertical fins on the stabs.

Good catch. Will update post.

My personal gut feeling says this looks like a main driveshaft failure, that failure results in the transmission no longer receiving input drive from the engine and the rotor subsequently drooping, but the engine is still producing power to drive tail rotor through the tail rotor drive shaft, this would account for the rise in engine noise while also seeing a left yaw, and simultaneously drooping the rotor.

Drive shaft failure or the collective had no friction on and dropped

What appears to be an approach to land precluded the loss of control and ditching. There isn't a helipad there, so it would indicate an in-flight problem that made the pilot initiate a precautionary landing.

A quick on-the-spot summary by the bloke who videoed the crash:

Doors off saves the day!
 

According to trip adviser, some of their tours can be ordered with doors on or off.
In this case it looks like the doors were off.

Thank the stars/god/luck

In respect to doors off tourist flights what rules are in place in respect of securing passengers and their cameras?

A standard quick release seatbelt buckle can inadvertently be snagged and opened by a camera strap.
Whilst it's rare for a camera to be dropped, smart phones are the opposite.

The bloke who shot the video says he saw the helicopter fly low straight toward him and that he had enough time to get his video camera out.

Aside from the crash :( does this tour normally fly low level?

Mickjoebill

MJB, no they don't fly low level. That video appears to show an unplanned approach to a precautionary landing at an open area.

Just to throw a bit more Monday morning umpiring into the equation: no floats on a Jettie carrying pax on extended overwater ops. Really?

Assuming it was a straight in approach the landing site, I assume, is pictured behind the report from the videographer.
(The crash occurred behind the curve wall)
It looks like public space. The sound of members of the public can be heard on the video so perhaps the pilot aborted the emergency/precautionary/landing to avoid the public?

Mickjoebill

I think that the footage was shot from the site of the Perl Harbor memorial shown in the link below.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ha...cc8628!6m1!1e1

I dont think that there is a helipad nearby and so rather than a failure late in the approach it was an attempt to (emergency)land in the open area aborted when he got closer.

.

VRS ??????????????????

Driveshaft failure? There is a change in engine note, and apparent reduction in RRPM.

.

Gotta be VRS ... high hover , low speed , probably a wind shift to boot .... watch the yellow police tape behind the guy in the second video (post 7) ... wind shifts 180* several times ...

Arnie, you need a pretty large rate of decent to get into VRS and this Helicopter didn't have that until something mechanical happened. I would look at the bushes behind the guy to get an Idea of the wind not the tape that someone is probably holding onto or people passing through a bit further on..

I've got no idea what caused it but it's not VRS or the other classic "no friction on the collective and it's dropped" from a poster above.....Really?

FWIW.... I flew tours in Hawaii for 7 years albeit not on Oahu.

It apears to me that he is making a normal approach to a Helipad----a helipad that is not normally used by tour helicopters.Therefore it would indicate he "may" have had reason to fly there.... i.e. some sort of problem.

On final approach, something happens that causes the helicopter to descend rapidly.... this is NOT "settling with power".

Listen to the sounds.....

My educated guess is some sort of shaft failure or governor failure.

Judging by the engine speed and tail variations near finals I also agree the sprag clutch was playing up and "went off" again on approach to an emergency LA.

Could easily have been a much worse outcome.

I think they were lucky that this happened over water and that the doors were off. Had it impacted terra firma with that ROD then there would have been fatalities or severe spinal injuries at the very least.


As to the cause we'll have to wait and see; one thing for sure it was very sudden and probably an irrecoverable situation for the pilot.


I hope the critical pax pulls through.


MB

Quote Scattercat
"To me, the rapid ROD from the "point of failure", is more indicative of a sudden collective pitch change, rather than simply the loss of drive to the rotor system. If the collective was held, in what would normally be a relatively high position given the approach phase, followed by a loss of drive, I would expect to see an engine over-speed & an increase in the ROD, but not that sudden. Collective control failure perhaps?" Quote Scattercat

Are you serious dude? If you lose drive to the rotor system and hold the collective in position and you will drop like a brick. The RPM decay is massive in the event of a total drive or proper engine failure. These things tend to fly better with rotor RPM, when you lose it, you lose flight.

Heliringer......

You need to calm down , you don't need a "pretty large " ROD to get VRS.

I suggest you do some reading