Looks to be more by luck than judgement to me. The guy is out of control.

The Enstrom 480 is a very strong aircraft and with the large spread on the skids gives it great stability and makes it very forgiving in the situation in the video. I can think of some aircraft that would of rolled over.

Once again a lucky guy to walk away from that one.

mmm.. when sitting on a heaving deck, like this, do you have to keep adjusting the cyclic to prevent the heli taking off? i would think if the guy had the collective full down then take-off is impossible??

It is easily possible for the deck to fall away fast enough at least for the helicopter to become very light on the skids. Then, it does not take much of a lateral movement of the vessel for the helicopter to start skidding across the deck.

That's when the problems start.

Does anyone have a link to an accident report for this?

Very lucky is what I say, why a single for off-shore ops, with no floats:(
They're looking for !!!!!

Controller
 

You must maintain the disc horizontal to the deck - so no, don't chase against the deck pitching or rolling. A multitude of reasons for this!

Having spent a week in the sim doing this excercise many times... He was either very skilled or very lucky (or a combination). It's tough enough trying to keep the aircraft within the confines of a huge runway, let alone a small helideck!

Cheers,

Doc

There's nothing on the NTSB site for N480KP. I wonder how recently this happened?

Lucky, lucky people.

Answering to 'the controllers' question, I think that is safe to cyclic to adjust for pitch and roll to stop or minimize sliding. Adjustments have to be small and you have to over come your tendency to jam the cyclic hard. Though you do have to know yours and the aircraft limits. To much input and you can mast bump, and as the video shows when the ship drops out from under you, you will be heading very quickly in the direction that your cyclic is pointing.
I think that the pilot thought that his rear right strap was still on, and that was why he tried to go backwards, in a very out of controlled way to say the least. Instead of flying away to the safety in wild blue yonder.
But yes a very un-organised situation.
Though I think the pilot did do a good job of keeping it dry, though maybe not his pants.
Wouldn't negative pitch be wonderful in such a situation.

Again! collective power control. ...... how many circles to you think he would have done on the deck if he had overhead throttles:confused:
Good pilot skills though, to land safe in that situation:D

Blender you are so right about the Enstrom collective coming up if the friction is not on TIGHT. Something that only catches you out once and this may very well be one of those occasions.

Who has jurisdiction over this accident? If this accident occurred on the high seas off the coast of Ireland with an N registered aircraft, who or where would you report it to? Is there even a requirement to report it in this instance?

Any ideas?

reporting
 

surely either the country of registration of the helo (or the ship)
would have a legal requirement to report to the appropriate authority

i dont see how moving the cyclic around to counter-act the pitching of the ship will help if the collective is full down. if the collective is full down then there is no thrust so moving the cyclic around will make no difference??

The pilot in question is a frequent visitor to Pprune. I am sure in his own time he will tell you all about. Good on him for getting it back on the deck.

TiP:O

I reckon he spent the rest of the day trying to work out how to do the lotto from a boat!

Blender and Brian,

No problems with the design of the 480B collective, your aircraft were just misrigged. On a properly rigged a/c, before start, with friction off, the collective will stay full down since the spring will be over center. Lift the lever a few degrees and the spring up-force comes online. With rotors turning the spring is still over center with full down collective, but once raised the spring balances the collective forces very well...when rigged properly.

T. I agree. The design is fine and when rigged right it will fly 'hands off' so you can play with the radio while your left hand holds the cyclic. The collective should stay where you put with no friction applied.

However, I have flown quite a few with collective problems. Its a maintenance issue. The collective spring preload should be checked by flight testing when any adjustment of the control system is performed. It is a quick and simple adjustment that seems to get overlooked and is potentially disastrous. It also makes it most unpleasant to fly.

If you find an Enstrom that does this, get it sorted out. It should have been done before it was released to service.

A check with the Darwin AMSA office reveals that any ship encounbtering an accident in international waters has an obligation to report to their country of registration. even if it's a death at sea, the receiving port will not want to know about it they simply pass details on to the nearest consular office.

i don't know what severity of accident is required before the ship has that obligation.

The Chicago Convention seems a bit hard to follow, but the definitions in the ICAO agreement might suggest that is the same case or that it would extend to where the helicopters operating base is and or the owner wherever it is registered. if that makes sense.

maybe someone who knows ICAO rules backwards could let us know.

The description of the video on the youtube website says: But I can just see the two straps that get removed by the groundcrew.
Maybe the rear end of the right skid was stuck to the net and the ground guy tried to fix that.
What I dont understand is that the engines got started and the disk loaded, before the straps were removed.
What is the "by-the-book" procedure in a deck operation like this?