State Police Helo Crash Charlottesville Virginia
 

Reports of a Virginia State Police helo down in the woods near Charlottesville, Virginia. Two POB and aircraft in flames according to one report.

https://twitter.com/JDeanSeal/status/896479411687608320

Sorry to hear about this. I know things got ugly in Charlottesville, and hopefully it's coincidental to the violence that occurred. Best wishes for the crew.

Purported video of crash here. Doesn't show much, though; perhaps the smoke is from the bird that went down and the one that's visible is a news chopper or something...

Sadly, two more fatalities in the Charlottesville area today:

FAA: Two killed after State Police helicopter crashes in Charlottesville | WSET

Crash in Charlottesville, VA
 

Looks like the aircraft was probably N31VA, a Bell 407 using the callsign 'Trooper One'.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N31VA

Helo Fairfax One reports the crash to Charlottesville tower at about 19:35 in this clip:

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kc...2017-2030Z.mp3

Apparently the chopper went down ten minutes after the protest car asault incident. There were a drone operating over the protest at the time:
https://mobile.twitter.com/NBCNews/s...942402/video/1





.

Shows at least that the weather and visibility were perfect and that the fire evolved quickly. Given the normally pretty good crash resistance of fuel tanks of the Jetranger Family it probably must have been a violent impact.
No powerlines visible in the video that could explain this combination either.
Not the typical pattern of fatal turbine helicopter accident.

Jay was the finest helicopter pilot I've ever known. There is unsubstantiated rumors out there that a drone was in the area.

The news report seems to indicate the machine went down 7 miles from the protests, in which case a drone would have little to do with it.

Those news reports are false. Old Farm Rd (crash site) is very near protest areas. Maybe one to two miles, max.

Looks like Fairfax 1 is county police. Sounds like they may have set down to assist, but not much other info. They have a posting here:

https://fcpdnews.wordpress.com/2017/...-state-police/

Also sounds like another VSP helo callsign 'Trooper Two' may have landed as well.

The crew from Trooper Two may be the VSP pilots in this picture:

http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/charl...2_12x5_992.jpg

Sorry to hear that guys. Our thoughts are with you.

Fairfax 1 is Fairfax County Police who operate Bell 429s. Did a shoot with them a couple of times.

Jay Cullen was a great individual to work with, met him on numerous occasions and was a true professional. :sad:

Thoughts are with all the VA State Troopers and the families :sad::sad:

These events are always sad....no matter where they occur or who is lost in them or how it happened.

I am participating in a "Stand True 4 Blue" event today in my home town....during a State Gang Investigators Convention....along with several of my friends and neighbors.

The Police have a very tough job these days and we want them to know the People stand with them....and not against them.

We will have the families, friends, and fellow Officers of the Two Virginia State Troopers in our Thoughts and Prayers.

Take a wander over to the organization's web site....and view the Photo's.

A sad loss for whatever reason. Sympathies to the families and co-workers.

Heliweb has an article suggesting separation of the tail before impact with the ground. Part of the article reads:


"At 4:50 PM witnesses reported seeing the helicopter spiral out of control, with one witness stating that he heard the aircraft having trouble and looked up to witness the helicopter spinning out of control before going inverted and disappearing from view behind trees. Images from the scene showed the Bell 407 helicopters tail wedged into a tree almost upside down, potentially supporting eyewitness accounts of the moments before the crash. The tail was found without fire damage, separated from the body of the helicopter, which impacted the ground a short distance away, bursting into flames."

So we have to wonder what caused the tail to be chopped off? Bladestrike or wirestrike seem the only 2 likely causes.

The picture shows the tailboom neatly severed and at least one half of the TR intact.

Could a driveshaft failure not cause the tail to depart and explain the spin?
It would take some effort to cut the tail off, it's not a Robbie..

I'm not sure the loss of TR drive would do that, the shaft would have to flail in order to trash the boom.

Very difficult to say with the limited information available but a very sad day for the state police.