22 year old killed by tail rotor
 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...de-Greece.html

As usual much speculation by the Daily Mail.

A wealthy young Briton horrifically killed in a helicopter accident in Athens may have been trying to take a selfie when he was struck by the aircraft's tail rotor, Greek media have reported.

Former public schoolboy Jack Fenton, 22, was said to have been using his mobile phone at the time of the accident last night on a private helipad near the Greek capital.

The Oxford Brookes university student, who went to the £36,000-a-year Sutton Valence boarding school in Maidstone, Kent, reportedly walked behind the Bell 407 helicopter while its engines were still engaged at 6.20pm yesterday.

Emergency services were called to the private heliport on the outskirts of Athens but the victim is thought to have been killed almost instantly by the high-speed rotor.

Investigators are probing the circumstances of the accident but the pilot could face manslaughter charges if he told the passengers to exit the helicopter before the engine and propellers had stopped.

Heads are going to roll for this one..

You can't TELL a milennial anything, and taking a selfie for Instagram is far more important than listening to anything the pilot said.

I challenge any pilot to stop some goose from getting out, especially from the left rear door, while the engine is running on the ground. No way they could charge the pilot for somebody else's stupidity. Except maybe in Murrica, where the lawyers would think of some way to do it.

That's wicked ! :O

My dad flew for Gulf Helicopters between 78 and 93. During that time he was on a job in Oman, flying geologists with a B206 up in the mountains. Despite comprehensive safety briefings, one of his passengers did the same thing, and was killed instantly. Dad was arrested and kept under house (hotel) arrest for about a month. The case went to court, but after some deliberation, he was found not to have been to blame and was released.

Young people making mistakes, sometimes fatal, has been happening since the dawn of time; generally old people should have learned enough to know better, yet somehow they still manage it, too.

And yet the selfie brigade have managed to find new and creative ways to shuffle off their mortal coil, in search of social media adulation and stardom.
Darwin would be pleased.

I would have thought a little more compassion would have been appropriate. A tragic event for a 22 year old boy with his life ahead of him regardless of wealth or ‘taking a selfie’. No empathy for the family losing their son, some of the comments are quite sickening. Hey good ol’ pprune whereby you can say anything but would never dare face to face.

Many companies I've used have a ground crew member there to direct pax in the right direction as they disembark, all too many times I've seen people get out and walk towards the rear only to be pointed in the right direction.

Long time lurker here, came to see if this had come up on the forums.
Some of the media reports claim that investigations are focused on “why he exited the helicopter while the rotors were still spinning”. That’s normal isn’t it?

Probably can’t tell your generation anything either, like the fact that Millenials were born up to 1996 so this poor lad would have been Gen Z. Not that his generation has anything to do with what’s happened to him.

Maybe don’t jump on the speculative bandwagon when there’s absolutely no evidence of anyone going for a selfie, that’s just crap journalism there to ruffle the feathers of people like yourself.

It’s difficult to be 100% certain of preventing passengers (or even staff) from having a brain fade moment. I have suffered a few heart stopping moments, thankfully in those cases without any injury to the persons involved, because they completely ignored the safety brief. They were all otherwise seemingly intelligent people but in the heat of the moment they did very silly things.

I won’t go into what the potentially more serious incidents involved but a lesser one involved a certain Lord Mayor, who was specifically briefed not to touch the door handles at any time and to stay strapped in until the rotors stopped, whereupon I would get out and open the doors and let him out. Although he nodded that he understood his brief before takeoff, after landing fifteen minutes later, he instead pulled the door jettison handle as soon as I closed the throttle, pushed the door off its hinges (whereupon it clattered onto the skid and the ground) unstrapped and climbed out with the rotors turning and began putting on his jacket. Then he got into his chauffeur driven limo and went on his way as if it were a completely normal thing to do. I was left to deal with a slightly bent aircraft but at least no-one was injured.

The one highlighted by the OP is a tragic case, I sympathise to all directly involved and to his family.

The newspaper report i read, said that they were escorted to the arrivals lounge, but he then turned and ran back holding his phone for a call/selfie.

3 arrests according to BBCIt is believed Jack Fenton, from Kent, had just disembarked from the Bell 407 aircraft in Athens.

Greek police arrested two pilots and a member of the ground crew in connection with the 22-year-old's death. They are facing charges of negligent homicide.

Reminds me of the Australian golfer Jack Newton who was seriously injured when he walked into a propeller. People in the golf club were wondering if he got a free drop!

The three arrested were released by the prosecutor orders without any charges until the investigation completes. I have to wait until Saturday to understand how the NTSB investigation will impact the one done by the police. The local police union president explained police treats the incident as if it were a traffic accident - obviously he is only good at asking salary and allowance increase for the police so he might have made an irrelevant comment.

[QUOTE=Ascend Charlie;11267960]You can't TELL a milennial anything, and taking a selfie for Instagram is far more important than listening to anything the pilot said.

" No way they could charge the pilot for somebody else's stupidity."

It's Greece.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-flip-a-switch

People do stupid things without thinking, or through misunderstanding.

Years ago having trained troops on both the Puma and Chinook on the same day we had an incident. On the Chinook it was a case of only exit to the rear between the 4 and 8 o’clock. On the Puma it was only exit between the 10 and 2 o’clock……. Shortly afterwards I, on the Puma had a soldier follow the orders for the Chinook and ran straight back and under the tail rotor which sliced straight through the camouflage on his helmet, but luckily not his head. A taller man would have been hit.

Later on, we had a Major exit the aircraft at night from 150ft taking the vertical route down. I guess he didn’t mean to do that either.

Me

It’s now very much on the top news agenda on my BBC News app, whilst saddened I neither feel particularly angry or aggrieved. In fact, nor surprised.

I feel for the crew and all involved in having to witness and deal with this also.

I just hope all involved had given the correct warnings and this will be a fatality through misadventure, i expect it will be and they are supported moving forward.

I am under no doubt that a 22yr old set up lad felt entitled enough to defy instruction and back himself into a still spinning tail rotor blade in order to go live on IG etc….

Having trying to deal with similar individuals myself…..the doctors students class (won’t name the uni) waiving their wangers out of the glass of my coach on the ring road round Brussels…..whilst tragic boys will be boys….

It only seems to us passengers do things crazy because we know the dangers. They do not or they often forget. It is unlikely we’ll ever know why he went towards the tail rotor but from the reports so far it would be unlikely it was for a selfie. If anything can be guessed at, it could have been that he possibly went back to take a photo of his parents landing in the second helicopter or to watch them.
A young man lost his life tragically. One day his family and friends might read some of the posts on here. Please show a bit of respect.

I remember reading the story of a crewman that stepped backwards through the spinning prop of a WW2 bomber.
It was only after he realised what he had done did he faint.

I had the privilege to get access the the Arizona Air National Guard ramp in 98. No safety instructions. I was just told to give priority to aircraft and stay within the lines on the ramp.
Had several helo's taxi next to me while I got some nice pictures. I used common sense and respected the environment. Wouldn't happen now.

Everyone blaming this person but shouldn't aircraft be shut down before embarking, disembarking?

If its a tour operation there should be ground crew to let pax out and escort them away. Any other operation? You're probably on your own.

Just reported on ITV NEWS. The helicopter had 2 propellers, one was STOPPED , the other still TURNING!!! Obviously a unique helicopter. Journalism at its best , with ZERO mechanical Knowledge. !!

Calling a 22 year old a ‘school boy’ seems a little odd.
Its a shame a lack of common sense cost a life but it is what it is.
Drugs and/or alcohol involved maybe?

The most sensible comment here. A life lost and a lot of people seriously traumatised by what happened.

Concur it's an awful tragedy and demands more sensitivity by previous posters. In addition, only the Mail can start the opening dialogue explaining how much the school he went to 3+ years ago cost per annum in fees as if it's relevant......

It just goes to show that anyone can have a bad day. Sometimes you are lucky and get away with it to become older and a little wiser. Other times, you don't.
Condolences to the family and sympathy to the crew who will now go through the wringer.

UXB 99, from my albeit limited experience in the offshore industry they always have the rotors running when loading and offloading passengers.
I was told it was due to aircraft stability being low on start up and shutdown.

One of a helicopter pilot's worst nightmares.

How very sad that a young man could lose his life like this, regardless of who is at fault.

It may be he's part of the "selfie brigade", it may be that the operation somehow is at fault and he was totally blameless, either way it's not a good thing, for his family, friends, the pilot and ground crew or our industry.

I work in a bit of the industry where dark humour is the norm, but some of our "fellow" posters on PPRuNe and other social media perhaps should think before they post every once in a while.

The mainstream media, should still be ashamed of themselves, proves once again they cannot often be trusted to report on anything involving aviation.

Oman
 

It was a bit longer than a month Ant - Your Dad even gave the briefing in French to ensure there was no misunderstanding!

This is in extremely poor taste and quite sick if I've to be honest. I'm shocked the mods haven't removed this whereas I've had plenty of totally normal posts removed.

Which helipad was it? If it’s the one I’m thinking of then my experience there wasn’t so great when I dropped in a couple months ago.

This is why Fenestron should be mandatory for all rotors.

Why don't they fit safety guards around the tail fan to prevent such accidents? Helicopters often embark/disembark passengers with rotors revolving so are a greater risk to passengesr than most fixed wing aircraft.

Advantages:
Increased safety for people on the ground because the enclosure provides peripheral protection;[5][18]

And a similar arrangement for all fixed wing props? Generally closer to the ingress/egress route than a tail rotor.

This one is operated by the company that runs/ owns the 407, 2 NM West of Venizelos. Fenced in, guarded, has a lounge for customers, refueling etc. plenty of space. Usually they don't let "non company aircraft" aircraft land there. It's usually only used by company aircraft, much cheaper and more efficient/ easier to operate in and out of than Venizelos. I flew there in 2019, good company, professionally run.

There's half a dozen "helipads" around Athens, some are official ones with proper markings, clearances etc. Some are just round concrete circles in the middle of a field or next to a parking lot.

A real tragedy this is

Absolutely right olster . Most posts on this thread made observations/conclusions based on questionable information, blamed the deceased's background/age/etc. Just such poor taste

Read multiple reports from different sources and you find that the statement issued by the head of AAIASB (Greek accident investigators), is completely denied by one of the other passengers who witnessed what went on. We have no way to know which one is wrong or whether both are wrong - but they can't both be right. This means that ALL press reports should be ignored

All we know is that a Brit aged 22 has tragically died and it involved a tail rotor on a 407. Have some sympathy for his relatives and friends. (full disclosure - none known to me)

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No, it shouldn't! We don't need yet more regulation just to protect people who cannot be bothered to pay attention to their surroundings.

They put safety barriers in front of railroad crossings, yet people still insist on going around them to get run over by a train.