AS 350 Missing off Townsville
 

Anyone have any info?

Has been reported elsewhere as an R44, 4 POB, all got out ok. Unconfirmed.

Ditched helo off Townsville
 

Latest is that a B206 ditched approx 2 1/2 nm NE of YBTL off the Breakwater Marina round 8 am with 4 POB. All out safely and transported back to land by boat. Taken to local hospital with minor injuries.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-12377,00.html

For whats its worth ?

Bell 206BII VH-BHS, blue & white JetRanger. 4 PoB for a film job: silly move, IMHO, especially at <50 feet overwater :confused:

Plenty of footage on Channel 9 and Channel 7, and "eyewitness" reports of the 206 spinning prior to impact. Interview with the WIN TV cameraman (who was onboard) had him describe the 206 losing TR control/effectiveness, leading to the crash.

Bl**dy lucky for all four to get out relatively unharmed :eek:

Anyone else getting flashbacks from about 2 months ago??

4 POB in a B206 filming low level over water, I'm curious to know what were they thinking ? :ugh:

In a 206L I take 2 pax max for that sort of work.

Anyone know the company operating the machine ?

gullibell.

So you're telling me that you can't fly a 206 with 4 pob and a camera at sea level at slow speed without crashing ? Obviously something has gone wrong on this flight, pilot error or not. But if you're not able to fly a machine at max weight at low altitude I suggest you go back to school. :ugh::mad:

No floats on the machine, I wonder if everyone was wearing jackets at the very least?

Wet J/R and 4 lucky people
 

500
As I have over 6000 hrs on 206s I feel I am qualified to give my 2cents worth.As previously mentioned 4 pob is not by any means to much for those old girls,however depending on fuel load and some wind (espeshally when positioning the a/c for that "gr8 angle") it is very easy to get yourself into a position where your ambitions simply exceed the a/c ability to fly and if not recognised and sorted immediatly (ie fly away and repo again) you WILL lose T/R effect and simply spin in and if the a/c is only 50' above the water as was mentioned you stand no chance of recovery,to finer margins indeed!!.
Sounds like they were lucky people thankfully this time,thought needs to be put in "how many pax do we need"to do this task ? when margines are fine dead weight can kill you.Keep em light !!

That is what I'm saying. Pilots fly the aircraft, they don't fly themselves. If you cant fly to the conditions or the aircrafts abilities then you may get into trouble. But if you can't fly a !!!!box, max weight in "some" wind you're an unskilled pilot.

He didn't say he can't; he said he doesn't. Why fly with unnecessary weight and take unnecessary risks? 350boy is right.

So now..... you can't fly a machine max weight without it being an unnecessary risk. So when can you fly without it being an unnecessary risk ?

As scissorlink alluded to this sounds like a carbon copy of the R44 in Cairns. Maybe it was or maybe it wasn't, but the shadow of LTE (Lack of Training & Experience) haunts us again.
Robinson Safety Notice SN-34 is worth a read, preferably before low/slow/over water/heavy/filming ops.

500...I stand by what I said before, 4 POB in a B206 doing low level photography over water...for what...what was the third pax doing? Was he essential to the operation? I would hazard a guess that he was there for the jolly, and no other reason. That's a lot of performance margin lost in a risky environment for no good reason. Doors off, that's more performance margin lost also. Whether I'm flying a B206, 206L, S76 or B412 on low level photo ops over water no-body goes along just for the ride. What was the 2nd pax doing? Perhaps he was the camera assistant, if so that's OK. If he was there for the jolly that's even more margin gone out the window.

We'll wait and see what the investigation reveals. If I were to hazard another guess, if the jolly rider had been left behind there might not be anything to investigate. But as I said, let's wait and see what the findings are.

Oh, jolly rider or not, 2 pax max in a B206 for low level photo is the way to go to keep your margins intact.

100% correct gulliBell.

500 (which I'm assuming is the amount of hours he sounds like he has) is either winding us up or going to be next.

Screwed™and gulliBell :ok:

Well said Lads,,,,,500 sounds like a right tosser...:ugh::ugh:

gulliBell has it precisely.

It's about dealing with risk. None of us will ever win an argument with gravity. As soon as you pull pitch you immediately accept a level of risk not present previously.

Those of us who have been around the block once or twice know for certain that it's never just one thing that creates one bad outcome. Invariably, there will be several risks, or circumstances, that 'conspire', if you will, to come together at one point to create someone's very bad day.

Our responsibility as pilots, private or professional, is to accept NOT MORE THAN a reasonable level of risk, and NOT MORE THAN a reasonable number of risks, for that matter, for a given operation.

To introduce unnecessary risk, where the only real outcome is on par with a pissing contest, is foolhardy, unprofessional and, in the worst circumstances, dangerous or even lethal.

If the risk required for a given operational return starts creating doubt . . . chicken out.

GP:O