What happened?
 

Found this while surfing and just wondered what happened to the crewman on the winch?(and the rest of the crew)

Does anyone know why the Helo decended into the river in the first place?

http://www.ogrish.com/archives/helic...r_03_2005.html

No reason for wanting to know except genuine curiosity.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks
OOTD's

From what I remember about this, there had been many complaints about the safety of the rescue service, following a number of accidents / incidents. So, in order to show just how safe they were, the army gave a demonstration of a water rescue.

I believe it went into the water due to pilot error, but I might be wrong on that. Unfortunately, the pilot then tried to take off again. Understandable, perhaps, but forbidden. Water had gone through the fenestron, taking the fenestron with it, which is the reason for the uncontrolled spin.

Tragically, the man on the winch died.

I don't remember it being in Taiwan, though. Again, I may be wrong.

Wednesday September 6, 2000

Taiwan Copter Spins Out of Control
TAIPEI, Taiwan ( AP ) - A police helicopter spun out of control during a mock river rescue and crashed into the water Wednesday, sending debris flying as its blades slammed into the riverbed. The co-pilot was in a coma and four others were injured.


Engine failure might have caused the French-made helicopter to plunge into the river in the southern county of Tainan, said Wang Hsiang-chou of the local air police. Wang did not provide details about the aircraft or the pilots' flying experience.


The helicopter was lowering a policeman when the aircraft tilted and briefly dropped into the water. When the chopper took off again, it began spinning in place about 10 yards over the river. Seconds later, the aircraft plunged sideways into the water and fragments of its blades flew off in different directions.


Co-pilot Lin Rong-ta, 33, was in a coma, and the four other crew members suffered surface wounds, but were in stable condition, doctors said.


Tainan is about 125 miles south of the capital, Taipei.


Premier Tang Fei, Taiwan's No. 3 ranking leader, said the accident highlighted Taiwan's need to improve its rescue operations. The government was criticized after rescue workers failed to save four workers from a flash flood in July.

Source


http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ghlight=taiwan

At first it looks as if the rotor blades had taken the winchman's life but after reading the article about no fatalities I watched the video again and it looks as if the helicopter sets just right in the water so that the open door is over the winchman which would have not killed him. It even looks like him crawling out at the end but thats a huge speculationg. Just a thought. Either way that's rough. I wonder what the pilot did to make him drop so fast into the water?

Engine overspeed.
No fatalities.
Co-pilot in coma due to water inhalation.