Japan CH-101 crash
 

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/2017...102391000.html

Video footage (distance)

It is hard to tell from the video but there appears to be something like a white flash (flames from one of the engines?) emanating from the helicopter as it approaches the base.

Looks potentially repairable too.

500 Fan.

It looks like something seriously went wrong when he picked up an underslung load because he wasn't carrying anything on the approach.

Seriously? That was a sudden stoppage of monumental proportions...I reckon what remains of it is destined for the coke can factory.

My guess, sun reflecting off the windshield.

Something seriously must have gone wrong. Jobs hardly get any easier than belly hooking from a great big slab of wide open concrete, especially when you have 3 engines.

If the cabin is straight and the transmission hasn't distorted the airframe as the rotor system clawed away at the ground, it potentially could be rebuilt. Stick it in the jig and see if it is straight or not. :ok:


500 Fan.

Cat 5 it and buy a new one I reckon. Too much power and inertia coming to the mother of all sudden stops not to have bent something. As a bare minimum it will need a whole new power-train. What is interesting is why it pranged, not whether it can be un-bent.

Don't forget that a significant amount of the EH101 is composite materials which don't handle impact damage well.

I suspect that cat 5 is more likely since you can't just bend that stuff back into shape and carry on.

Not necessarily CAT5, don't forget it is modular so may well be suitable for rebuild. The Merlin at El Centro is flying today after similar roll over. But yes interesting what happened before thinking re-build

Re the video:

In one picture there is a good shot of the sling load on the ground with the sling attached to the hook, and there is another line from the load heading off toward the left main gear ( cannot tell if it actually goes that far ).

In another picture of the aftermath, that second line is missing.

Comment?

I would think that the shock loading in itself will have been enough to substantially damage the transmission decking and everything it is attached to without considering the other damage from the rollover.

OK. So I was wrong about its future role as coke cans.

What is remarkable to me - generally speaking - if a military grade helicopter such as this is so damage intolerant doesn't really auger well for being deployed in combat operations. Certainly for land-based operations. Imagine if the old Huey couldn't be patched up in an hour or so and sent back out there amongst it :}

Just a shadow...

That's only the shadow cast on the ground of the line attached to the hook. You never attach more than one ring on the hook. If you need to carry multiple loads they get connected to a strop which is connected to the hook by one properly sized ring.

I see nothing remarkable in that video, other than all the bits and pieces of helicopter scattered in every which direction from which they were previously properly attached.

Oops. Beat me to it. I'm slowing down in retirement :ok:

You are correct, Gulli. just relooked at T=1:48, and it is a shadow, no doubt.

Both a Mk3 and a -512 have been repaired with similar looking damage. Of course stripdown inspection and measurements in the jig would reveal if it is a possibility. Having said that why repair if you are thinking of ordering more, just add another one as necessary?

The news video shows a number of fresh scrape marks on the pad. One looks like the load was dragged, there are marks made by the main and tail rotor blades, There are more marks that start at the edge of the pad that interest me, do they match the undercarriage?

I put those down to the fork-lift driver trying to spin a few donuts whilst the boys were out on the job. The only thing I see in all those scrape marks is the helicopter ended up pretty much where it rolled over in the first place. Another possibility, maybe the load was lifted off a vehicle and it got snagged up and some unfortunate pio's rolled them over, with the truck driver departing the scene shortly after all that excitement. Dunno. A total mystery to me. Assuming no major technical malfunction, that job should have been easy for a one-eyed pilot on an arse-about mirror to pick up that load. I'm guessing there were 2 pilots and a load-master with his head out the door, so that job should be dead easy even with eyes closed. Again, dunno.

I'm not sure we are looking at the same video? At just before 5s on "asahi.com" titled "MSDF helicopter crashes during training run at Iwakuni air base".