Great work they all walked away!!

They are still building helicopters!!

A few basic details here:

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/248409

Interesting that the nature of the flight is noted as Private, rather than Commercial?

Inputting the registration into the NTSB accident database returns zero results.

https://s2helicopterservices.com/videos

Absolutely this. So much of aviation is regulated to the ends of eternity, but simple stuff like you suggest, not a chance.

On ebay recently I saw a Cessna key blank being offered for £20. Twenty quid. Anything aviation, start off multiplying by a factor of ten, then doubling it.

Me: "Why?"
Instructor: "Apparently it's for all the safety testing, reliability and certification."
"OK, so if I try to fly the plane with a key turned maybe 15 degrees from the correct position, will I get a warning?"
"No."
"Really?"
"No."
"Even though it could cause me serious problems?"
"No."
"Hmmm. Well at least I can rely on the important stuff, like the fuel gauges?"
"Yeah, funny you should mention them...."

Bravo73 - not much professional activity going on there I think.

Well, if you are the type who needs the government to hold his hand through life, Robinson did develop a "full throttle" light for inattentive pilots, so perhaps they'll give you your "ignition key off" light one day, if this keeps happening?

Has this accident been investigated? Is the official report available? I couldn't read the registration number of the aircraft. With the registration number I could locate the report

Here's the preliminary. Nothing revealing yet. Use this website for any aviation occurrences 1/1/2008 and later

The video posted by Findon 40 taken by the rear seat passenger appears to show the front passenger was not wearing his seat belt. In which case he was extremely lucky to walk away.

FYI:
From the scientific side, it is impossible to mechanically eradicate all feral hogs as they are too prolific and smart. In Texas for example, in order to keep their 2 million hog population in check, it would require the harvest of 1.25 million hogs per year. They barely achieve 400,000 each year and this is with a 365 day, 24/7, legal hunting season. Traps tend to work one time then must lay dormant for months or moved as other hogs will not enter the trap after the 1st use.

Considering hogs cause over a $1 Billion in damage in the US alone, a niche industry has sprung up with aerial hunts as shown in the video. There are quite a few ops out there. There are also professional aerial hog hunters who specialize in night flights from either a small fixed wing or helicopter using thermal imaging sights. Given a farmer can incur up to a $70,000+ loss in one night, the issue is very serious in the agricultural belts around the country.

The latest move over the past several years has been toward developing a poison that will kill just the hog and leave a biological marker that it was poisoned in case the animal is harvested for sport. Regardless, even with a lethal poison it will still be a chore to reduce the feral hog populations in my experience. Just be thankful they haven’t figured out how to swim the big pond… yet.

Sorry, I don't believe the gun/key story. What's the chance of the gun switching the key to off in the first place, pretty small I would say. In all the 22 & 44's I've flown the switch takes a definite twist and just knocking the key is highly unlikely to move it 3 positions! And then to cap it all the switch also has to be faulty!

I don't buy it, has all the hallmarks of a tale cooked-up after the event to spare the blushes of the pilot.

Edit to say, and keep the insurance company happy.

Much more than "pilot blushes"...The tail rotor and aft end of the boom is gone!!

Shooting seems to be a major part of their operation.https://s2helicopterservices.com/

Look at the start of the video, the key was in the of position before they even got off the ground
Unless the barrel of the switch was rotated in the panel then my money is on malfunctioning P Leads and a poor pre-flight.

Wrench1 - seems it was a very self-inflicted problem https://www.germaniainsurance.com/bl...ld-pig-problem

You start by introducing them for sport and then suddenly you have millions of them.

Another interesting comment here https://www.si.com/sports-illustrate...as-helicopters - seems like the answer is going to need more than a few tourists with AR 15s

Couldn't the governor take them on holiday with him?:)

Don't forget this is likely to become a problem in the UK, too. ShootingUK estimates the population is now up to 2600 and climbing rapidly. See also the link I posted earlier in this thread. Now is the time for you folks to completely eradicate them, before it's too late.

It appears so. As much as on shutdown (cool-down period, then clutch OFF) we check at this moment that the mechanical (engine-driven) fuel pump on its own works well (as clutch OFF disengages the electric fuel pump), one could also check the magneto key switch OFF function.

30 sec after clutch OFF you would then normally kill the engine by pulling the mixture. You might just decide to once in a while kill the engine by turning the magneto key switch to OFF. It's not in the POM, and others here can advise if there are any reasons for not doing this way...

With correct wiring you would get:

- Immediate engine stop when turning the key to OFF
- Noticeable, positive engine roughness and RPM drop between 3 and 5 % (but less than 7% within 2 sec) by running in either one magneto
- Positive rpm and smoothness recovery when switch from one magneto back to two magnetos

If you religiously follow a pre-takeoff *checklist* even if the engine was just off for a few minutes, I agree very little chances that you take-off with the key in the wrong position AND the wiring to be totally wrong AND the wiring miraculously coming right (ie engine stop) after 20 sec.

--

No passenger can change a switch position in the cockpit, with the engine running and the pilot at the controls, without the pilot noticing. Full stop. Let alone accidentally.

OK, last time that happened was in NYC with the Squirrel where the passenger's camera strap or similar caught the fuel shutoff lever and then pulled up that lever thereby shutting off fuel flow. But let's just say that here the idea that the front pax with his rifle knocked a rotary switch from the 5 o'clock to the 1 o'clock position only suits one person, the pilot.

--

Great auto?

While we are all happy that all pax walked away from this accident unhurt, and while I wouldn't boast that I would have done much better, adding to the above this was a fairly botched autorotation (loss of speed, loss RRPM). The pilot treated the engine out like if it was at cruise speed (with the stick in forward position before the engine stops), not adjusting his technique for the fact that he was still in the climb (with the stick in an AFT position).

The good thing that can be said is that he didn't stop flying the aircraft until the impact and until the aircraft come to a complete stop, avoiding obstacles left right and centre. And doing a great run-on landing on rough terrain without toppling over. That was *not* luck.

I'll just nip down to Walmart and get me an AR 15 and a bucket of bullets then :)

But that 2600 is spread across the whole of the UK with the majority being in one place - the Forest of Dean. You didn't mention that Shooting UK also advocates a closed season on lactating sows, something that I suspect wouldn't be acceptable in Texas.

True to a point. The other half is the loss of habitat which is compounding the existing problem. I've been dealing with this issue for over 30 years as a land lessee/owner and supported various aerial ops but not the pay-for-hunt type in the video. Most state hog populations were managed effectively up until the 80s and 90s when the sport hunting side took off. Free enterprise at its best and worst. Just like the python issues in the Florida Everglades, the nutria in the marshes of the GOM, and the Kudzu plants of the southeastern US. They all started as good ideas but people were clueless on the ramifications when they released these animals/plants into prime survival areas. With luck, if the current chemical treatments continue to work, along with all the other measures being used, to include the aerial cowboys in the OP, they may get the populations back into control, but never 100% eradicated. At least thats how things are moving around my end of the spectrum. Now back to our regular programing......

Ha ha! I'll believe that when I see it, even if you could! Mr-not-a-gun-guy ;)

Very true. Shades of the same economic and philosophical motivations that exist in parts of the Texas eradication--er--hunting industry, I suspect. You know, more pigs means more hunting, guns, guides and tours that will be necessary. It's a fine line between conservation, wild game and pest. But I'm a naturally suspicious type. Hope it doesn't get out of hand!