If you go down to the woods today...
 

I guess it was a big surprise.....still glad to see it had a happy ending


TAKEN FROM AN NZ PAPER REPORT

Injured rescue helicopter pilot makes safe landing

An injured rescue helicopter pilot hovered her damaged machine for an hour before landing safely at Hood Aerodrome in Masterton last night.

The Lifeflight Trust helicopter, operated by Helilink Ltd, had earlier struck trees in the Rimutaka Ranges. It had been called out to transport an injured motorcyclist from Masterton Hospital to Wellington.

Police said today the pilot's hand was injured and possibly broken when a tree smashed the cockpit window, also injuring a doctor onboard.

The damaged helicopter limped on to Masterton where it circled above the Hood Aerodrome for about an hour while emergency services constructed a makeshift landing bed of tyres.
Masterton Fire Service station officer Gary Nielsen said fire fighters were called to the aerodrome about 10.45pm. The helicopter had received some "impact damage" to a landing skid and was unable to land because it was unbalanced.
The pilot was forced to hover above the landing site while fire fighter cut off the other skid.

Senior Sergeant Terry O'Neill of Masterton police said the all-female helicopter crew of four, including a doctor and a nurse from Kapiti Health, got out of the helicopter while the pilot hovered above the landing site.

After the skid was removed, the pilot manoeuvred the craft on to the tyres and shut the engine down without problems.
Police closed roads to the aerodrome and residents, many in their dressing gowns, came out to see what was happening.
"It was touch and go, we were relying on her being a good pilot and we only had one go at it and she was really low on fuel, but she did it," Mr Nielsen said.
"It could have been disastrous."

Wairarapa Ambulance Service station officer David Long said bits of tree were embedded in the helicopter and inside it.
Ambulance staff treated the doctor and pilot.
"She was very, very sore when the adrenaline wore off but she had managed to fly for an hour with (the injury)," Mr Long said.

A fixed wing aircraft flew from Wellington to take the injured motorcyclist and the pilot to Wellington Hospital.

The Civil Aviation Authority will investigate the incident.

[

They don't make those skids like they used to, eh?

There'll be a very good story about this one when it finally comes out.

Firefighters cut the skid off? Good job.

Lucky they didn't try to do what they normally do - cut the roof off!

New Zealand BK117 Accident
 

I have just read of an accident in NZ involving a BK117 on a night rescue mission, apprantly it hit a tree taking off a rear stabilser one skid and smashed windows etc and in the process the pilot received severe injuries to her hand. The A/C diverted to an airfeild where an emergency landing was made on a bed of tires after hovering for an hour and the firemen cutting off the other skid. The media is hailing the pilot as a hero, --give me a break if she didnt go round crashing into things she wouldnt have to make emergency landings in the dark.

Granny: Congratulations on your uncanny ability to make instant judgements on something you know nothing about, your unashamed readiness to condemn, and your charitable instincts. You should be in the media.

Was she trying to park in the ladies only car park in Aukland ?

http://www.geocities.com/turbobandi/carpark.jpg

Congratulations Granny,

Your end comments go to prove once and for all that, in the helicopter community as in the world at large, there really are some prats.

Get your facts straight before slagging off a fellow pilot on a worldwide site. Your snide comments are out of place amongst what I have found to be a collection of open-minded individuals.

There is a quote about snatching success from the jaws of disaster, which I cannot fully recall to mind.
I believe the American pilot Chuck Yeager referred to, 'THE RIGHT STUFF'
Apparrently there was a lot of that, in the pilots actions of recovering, from 'a situation'.
So let's all be chivalrous and refrain, from any inappropriate additions to this thread.

With regards to this accident the flight was a (supposed to be) simple transfer from Wellington to Masterton, up and over the Rimitukas to pick up a patient sometime between 12.00am and 1.00am (not sure of exact time). For some reason the helicopter hit the top of the trees on the top of the mountain range and needless to say the difference between being here and not being here was about 4 inches.

Yes she did a good job re getting the machine down on the ground at Hood Aerodrome safely, albeit missing one whole skid section and one of the rear stabs. But a couple of questions have to be asked:

1. Why was she so low that she hit the trees in the first place, especially during night operations.

2. Were there any contributing factors that caused the aircraft to be so low at that point.

My personal opinion is that the term "hero" doesnt really apply in this case, at least not until the full facts are known, because it MAY have been pilot error that caused the accident in the first place, or, the term could be aptly applied if in fact there was some sort of mechanical problem prior to the impact.

These are only personal opinions.

AB

When you know the answers to the questions you pose, you can start dishing out stick. Not before.

T'AintNatural

Not sure where I am dishing out stick as you put it. I posed a couple of legit questions and made a personal opinion about using the word Hero. This is not having a shot at her or anyone else, its a personal opinion which I am entitled to, as are you.

AB

A couple of points for all to bear in mind:

Nobody died (thankfully).

Most incidents of this kind fall into the category of there but for the grace of God go I.

I have a reasonable amount of experience of flying night helicopter rescue and when things start to go wrong, for whatever reason, the situation can rapidly become difficult to keep on top of. Whatever the initial cause of this incident, the pilot performed admirably in recovering from a difficult situation without loss of life. Bigger brains than mine will pick out the cause and hopefully whatever it was we will all learn something from it.

To DB Chopper and It aint natural
I have made comments on something I do know about and I do have the facts, as All Blacks said it was a simple night transfer over a mountain range something you Poms would not have encounted.
I was not slagging off a fellow pilot merly pointing out the facts.
I dont believe she was a hero she merly crawled out of the hole she dug herself.

I think quoting "but for the grace of god I go..." is BS.

I have made plenty of mistakes. Nothing to do with Gods grace and I think it all sounds fatalistic. The big questions in all these incidents is whether we set ourselves up by being dumb, disorganised or unskilled or we are plain unfortunate.
"but for the grace of god I go" is a cop-out.

Just one mans opinion.

Granny..........
 

Sounds very Chauvenistic to me.............

Did she beat you for the job..or was that some other type of sour grapes.......

No wonder you work in the Middle East where the testostrone is enshired in the sacrements!!

Back off...........before someone calls you a Pratt!!!

Hey Guys lets keep the personal insults out of this and keep it professional. Its not Just Helicopters remember.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions on items, events, accidents, incidents, whatever, and each has to be respected. Slamming someone because you dont like what they write is one thing, posting a legit rebuttal is also another option.

Again, just my opinions.

AB

Steve 76

The point I was trying to make, which you seem to have misunderstood, is that we all make mistakes, the machine can break on any one of us, a moments inattention or insufficient prior planning can bite.

My point is, as you have admitted yourself, something like this could, whatever the cause, happen to anyone. Hence my comment, which I don't think is fatalistic. It is fatalistic if once something has gone wrong you throw up your hands and just give in despite the fact that the situation is recoverable. Once you are in the mire how you dig yourself out says something about you.

Just my opinion, please note I haven't found it necessary to insult you to make my point.

For Granny,

The mountains in the UK may not be huge but believe me, the weather conditions to be experienced in them can still be severe.

roundwego,

your picture doesn't load although I managed to see it at your website. If you ask me (and all things considered) it's in pretty bad taste.

Capn Notarious

Might the quote be... "Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat"?

Irlandés

Keepin it in trim,

Sorry, that wasn't intended to be personal.
That little phrase gets tossed around here a considerable amount and my comment was merely a reflection of my thoughts on that.
I guess I would rather quote, " but for the grace of god that tree wasn't a foot taller....:) "