Helicopter ouch in New Zealand

I don't think the pilot was wearing a seatbelt...he just about falls out during the crash. If he was it was too loose. Looks like a bad day nevertheless.
 
Pay particular attention to the moment of blade strike. Violent shaking results in the pilot being tossed in his seat and then being ejected from the craft. By that time the aircraft had rolled in such a manner that the pilot falls back inside the aircraft in the rear cabin. That he wasn't wholly ejected at the beginning suggests he was secured in his seat. I wouldn't be surprised if the seat harness broke.
 
I watched a couple of videos and missed what he hit. Then one of the comments on that site mentioned seeing a cable fall into the rotor. Check about 17 seconds in. Maybe.
ABC News had a second video at a different angle. Still couldn't tell.
When they interviewed the pilot he said he would do it again if they asked. I wonder what his boss has to say about that.
 
That make me flinch to watch it yesterday.

Glad he walked away!

Do they have Thanks Giving in New Zealand? :rolleyes:
 
He was installing a Christmas tree. News video I saw yesterday morning on NBC said the blades hit a guy wire from the structure that is visible in the foreground...
 
silver-eagle said:
I watched a couple of videos and missed what he hit. Then one of the comments on that site mentioned seeing a cable fall into the rotor. Check about 17 seconds in. Maybe.
ABC News had a second video at a different angle. Still couldn't tell.
When they interviewed the pilot he said he would do it again if they asked. I wonder what his boss has to say about that.
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It looks to me like the tail rotor struck something first. At the beginning of the crash the tail boom appears to bend downwards immediately after the first abnormal movement I can see.

I also wondered what the siren like sound was that began at the moment the main rotor struck. Could that be coming from the engine?
 
I fly in an Astar every third day and our pilots drill into us to watch for wires of all types. We have a tower in a rural area that is 1500 feet. The guy wires come out a long distance and are nearly invisible. Ups your pucker factor when working in that area.
 
The "siren" is just the turbine engine still running and spooling up with no load. It just keeps spooling up until someone reaches up and kills the fuel. I think the pilot crawls forward and does that at one point. He reaches up to the overhead to kill it.

It sounds like a shaft connected to it is doing some serious metal grinding and bearing trashing which is causing the high-pitched whine.

Turbines are amazing. Give 'em fuel once they're turning and they'll either keep turning normally, self-destruct into a bejillion pieces, or rip themselves free of their load if the mechanism jams... and keep turning. ;)
 
drizzt76 said:
I don't think the pilot was wearing a seatbelt...he just about falls out during the crash. If he was it was too loose. Looks like a bad day nevertheless.
Click to expand...

Probably on loosely to allow him to look around
 
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