Helicopter Crash in Austria
 

The news are very skimpy, but apparently there was helicopter involved in an accident around the Grossglockner area in Carinthia.

Hubschrauber in Kärnten abgestürzt - ein Toter - Beim Großglockner - Österreich - krone.at

According to an update in one of the Austrian newspapers, Red Bull's Hannes Arch died in the accident... Sad news.

From a friend in Austria he said he crashed into mountain at night in his R66 :(

Hannes Arch died in R66 crash
 

Apparently he was supplying alpine Chalets with his R66 when he crashed yesterday around 22:15 (NVFR :ooh:).
http://kaernten.orf.at/news/stories/2795622/ (german)
https://translate.google.com/transla...s%2F2795622%2F (google english)
He got his license from the same school as I. School uses only S300Cs for training, although there is/was an R22 among his fleet.

Will be very interesting to read the accident report to find out why a renowed plank air racer, someone managing high risk tasks as part of his life, failed to survive his R66.:(

P.

So i assume he was holding a CPL, and his aircraft was registered on a AOC?

Not stating anything, just trying to understand what your message is when you say "he was supplying alpine chalets in HIS R66".....

Well, I got my info mainy from ORF.at. There they state:
- he operated an airtransport company specialized in supply/support of alpine huts
- he flew himself (I'd guess he was PIC)
- he left around 21:15 lct for LOWS where his ac was stationed (my guess "his R66 was stationed". I doubt they were talking about his Edge540 acro plane)

Registration OE-XHA https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=189924

He was the operator of the OE-XHA according to https://www.austrocontrol.at/jart/pr...2015_06_DE.pdf

Accoring to Rotorsky Helicopter Service Christian GruberHubschrauber Flugschule (FTO website) he was holding a CPL.

Flight was NVFR weather was fine.

...and very dark up there with a half moon low over the horizon and very, if any, visual light references to fly by!
I definately wouldn't want to fly away from there at that time of the night in a single.

Hmm....NVFR in the mountains, without Night Vision Goggles?

Sounds weird...i would not want to do this...

And I don't see what the helicopter type has to do with flying into a mountain....

Hannes Arch: Suche nach Absturzursache - kaernten.ORF.at
Picture and video of the wreckage and the sorounding terrain. Not an nice place to try and make an emergency landing in the night...

Departure was appr. 1h past ECET.
How dark is that, up in the mountains?

HillerBee
And I don't see what the helicopter type has to do with flying into a mountain....


The Report says that the police helicopter which located the wreckage couldn't land due to "at night and in strong winds"

Appeal to Mods

any chance of removing the pro twin nonsense from the above post? SP

"I definately wouldn't want to fly away from there at that time of the night in a single. "

bumping into moutains hurts just as much in a twin, lots of twin pilots know that

Not sure why a transport flight to a mountain cabin needed to be done at night. The guy crashes 1 minute after takeoff in a pitch black night .. smells like CFIT if you ask me.

Rotor head is still attached so not another mast bump accident.
CFIT would have to be up there as a probable cause.
And yes 1 engine or 8, it's not going to make and ounce of difference if you get it wrong.

You really are funny like. It's his / her opinion and as long as it isn't insulting anyone (except you it seems) why on earth would the post have to be removed??

Bumping into mountain hurts equally. True. But remember that the cause of this very sad accident has not been established. It might also be a failure of that one engine... In which case I'm sure you, being in that situation, would not have wanted another one on the side to save your ass.:E

And yes, I fly singles. I still find your comment stupid and totally out of context.

"It might also be a failure of that one engine... "

are you serious?

the chance of that is almost zero


"why on earth would the post have to be removed??" because this forum Mods removed my symetrical post when i suggested that belief it two engines was equivalent to superstition. They said it was "nonsense", if you think that this accident had anything to do with it being a single then your grip on reality is weak. That is nonsense, obviously, and it should be removed as nonsense also.

This is NOT a single engine accident, and the suggestion that it might be is OBVIOUSLY nonsense, if the mods don't remove that NONSENSE suggestion then they are obviously not neutral wrt THAT arguement.

ok?

Was it an IFR equipped aircraft?
Did it have a stabilisation system?
Does the R66 have those options?

Totally. Happens not very often but still many times/ year all over the globe. I've seen one happening and I'm only on my 40's (gladly for myself from the ground).

Those turbines are not fail proof. And will never be.

If you KNOW this accident has nothing to do with engine you better contact Austrian accident investigators because I do think you know more than they do at this early stage.:ugh:

AnFI,

You have chosen to challenge my moderating on this and the AW139 thread, failing yet again to recognise that the vast majority of Rotorheads are failing to support your constant preaching of your single engine mantra. I am not inclined to moderate the offhand comment of another about twin/single, but I will remove your comments when they are both off-topic and designed to contribute nothing more than your desire to assert your beliefs.

Your students all talk well of you, your flying exploits are exemplary, yet you persist in upsetting many of the contributors to Rotorheads by refusing to acknowledge that there is more than one side to a discussion. I have as many single engine hours as you, and the same number again on twins, and recognise that they both have their place in aviation. It may do your cause more good were you to do the same.