Posted: 1/29/2009 6:53:07 PM EDT
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An aerial spray vendor I do a fair amount of work with had a pretty serious crash about a month ago.
He had just gotten this helo a few weeks before and was up showing another individual the ins and outs of that type of flying. He then took it up to 800' to explain airport approach procedures when the collective suddenly stopped responding. Shortly thereafter the cyclic went out (his description, not mine). Estimated impact speed was about 80 mph down and 20 mph forward. Impact threw the pilot from the cockpit and through the bubble (harness straps broke). He ended up on the ground in front and got slapped on his arm and leg by the main rotor. Both pilot and passenger received compression fractures in their spines and lots of bumps and bruises. He says about 1.5 weeks in the hospital, and the first thing he did when he got home was take another bird up. These two guys are lucky to be alive, much less back in the air. Sorry about the crappy pix, they're cell phone jobs from one of the ground crew. 
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I was talking to a guy here in Miami the used to use a Bell - 47 for spraying. He has a failure of one of the blade hubs at low level and low airspeed. He busted some ribs IIRC but was able to walk away.
Sometime it's only the difference of a few feet. Not bragging, but any higher and I wouldn't have walked away from this one. 
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I was talking to a guy here in Miami the used to use a Bell - 47 for spraying. He has a failure of one of the blade hubs at low level and low airspeed. He busted some ribs IIRC but was able to walk away. Sometime it's only the difference of a few feet. Not bragging, but any higher and I wouldn't have walked away from this one. http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/frenchkat/scan0003-1.jpg Where was this at? |
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Ft Polk, JRTC rotation, 95 if believe.
Had a heavy handed left seater who imparted some rearward movement to the aircraft while he was manipulating the controls for the Mast Mounted Sight. The controls are mounted on top of the co-pilots cyclic. Aircraft was in a "stabilized" hover at treetop level (93 ft). 1st indication of trouble was the co-pilot yelling something about trees. There were no indications in the cockpit that there was anything wrong. What alerted him was debris flying past his side of the cockpit. I remembered all those Vietnam gunpilots who mentored me in my younger days saying "If you have a problem with you tail rotor at NOE altutidues, it's because you knocked it off on a tree!" Sure enough, I had stuck my tail rotor in a tree. Initially there were no indications that anything was wrong, but I knew I needed to be on the ground. I increased collective just enough to get me out of the trees. I also pushed the cyclic forward just enouch to get me moving toward the open area to my front to land. About that time the aircraft started shaking, then the nose started to yaw to the right. The shaking and yaw were the result of loosing about half of each tail rotor blade. Because I was expecting it, I was ready on the throttle and rolled it all the way off. The yaw stopped as I entered autorotation. Remember, I'm only about 95 ft up and had just started moving forward from a slight rearward drift. Had I not been expecting the tail rotor failure, I might have spun around several times there at tree top level. That wouldn't have been good either. Things were going sorta OK when I realized that I was going toward the right treeline of the small open area I was aiming for. I remember thinking just before I hit the 2nd tree, that I was probably going to live through this, but that it was going to hurt! Hit the 2nd tree about 35 ft up and the aircraft started rolling to the right. I fell straight down from there onto the right (my) side. We were flying without doors, but had the armor side panels installed which kept my body from actually hitting the ground. I still hit hard enough to break my shoulder blade and sustain a skull fracture. However, I wasn't knocked out. Co-pilot wasn't injured at all. As soon as we hit, the co-pilot was unbuckled and pulled the fuel handle to the off position, Even before I unbuckled, I reached up and completed the Emergency Shut-down (Throttle - Off, Fuel - Off, Battery - Off) by turning the Battery Switch to the Off position. I was able to climb out the co-pilot door by standing on the center console and out the door. Finding by the board were an aircrew communications failure. In fact there was no communications from the time the co-pilot was yelling something about trees until after we started to egress. There wasn't enough time for a MayDay call. The aircraft had moved forward 124 ft from the 1st tree I hit until reaching the 2nd tree. Had I hit the 2nd tree a few feet further up, the aircraft would've rolled even further which would had put us impacting almost upside down. Probably wouldn't have walked away. So, a few feet can make all the difference. Interesting side note. When my left seater (the Troop Commander) was taking his post crash eval about 30 later, they had a real engine failure during a simulated engine failure. The crew failed to recognize it until too late. They attempted a power recovery only to discover that the engine had really quit. They landed hard and bent the skids. Again, no one hurt. |
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Ft Polk, JRTC rotation, 95 if believe. I thought by chance the incident might be listed here: http://www.armyaircrews.com/kiowa.html I guess this site only deals with fatalities. ETA: I still have a newspaper clipping from 1986, detailing the first incident I experienced with an aircraft from my unit going down. Luckily, no one was injured, and we recovered the aircraft as well. 
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I was talking to a guy here in Miami the used to use a Bell - 47 for spraying. He has a failure of one of the blade hubs at low level and low airspeed. He busted some ribs IIRC but was able to walk away. Sometime it's only the difference of a few feet. Not bragging, but any higher and I wouldn't have walked away from this one. http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/frenchkat/scan0003-1.jpg That's what, a pre-MMS OH-58? Or you knocked the MMS off in the crash.... |
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Dave_A, we were flying KWs. That's the armed OH-58D.
No, the MMS wasn't knocked off in that accident. It's just buried. The spray guy I was talking about in the BH-47, that's what the Army called an OH-13. Most recognizable as the "MASH" helicopter. I've got the video around somewhere of a guy that's kust bought a used Hughes 298/300. He's a rated pilot, but not rated in helicopters. He actually gets off the ground but rolls the thing up in a ball. I'll see if I can find the link on youtube and post it here later. |
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That sucks, guy is lucky to be alive. How much did he pay for that thing anyways? I believe the $80k figure was mentioned at some point. Now, I'm no pilot, and certainly no appraiser, so I have no idea if that figure is correct. Those things run considerably more that 80K brand new they are about 300K with some options. |
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Ft Polk, JRTC rotation, 95 if believe. I thought by chance the incident might be listed here: http://www.armyaircrews.com/kiowa.html I guess this site only deals with fatalities. ETA: I still have a newspaper clipping from 1986, detailing the first incident I experienced with an aircraft from my unit going down. Luckily, no one was injured, and we recovered the aircraft as well. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Metroliner/incidentedit.jpg This was my first, I was part of the QRF for the brigade task force during a field problem leading up to our JRTC rotation, waiting for 3-4 CAV's OPFOR guys to get through the wire and try to rape us. Call went over the manpack to clear the net and we endex'ed the following morning. 
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/02/13/news/story1.html |
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Really depends on the source.
When the Army switched from the TH-55 to the TH-57, they sold off almost all the aircraft they had. They were going so cheap, people were pulling away with 2 or 3 to a trailer. IIRC, they were going as surplus for a lot less then the $80k range. I believe they were sold in the Restricted category, but I could be wrong. I don't believe they were intended to go straing into the civilian market. |
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Ft Polk, JRTC rotation, 95 if believe. I thought by chance the incident might be listed here: http://www.armyaircrews.com/kiowa.html I guess this site only deals with fatalities. ETA: I still have a newspaper clipping from 1986, detailing the first incident I experienced with an aircraft from my unit going down. Luckily, no one was injured, and we recovered the aircraft as well. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Metroliner/incidentedit.jpg This was my first, I was part of the QRF for the brigade task force during a field problem leading up to our JRTC rotation, waiting for 3-4 CAV's OPFOR guys to get through the wire and try to rape us. Call went over the manpack to clear the net and we endex'ed the following morning. http://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/02/13/news/art.jpg http://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/02/13/news/arta.jpg http://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/02/13/news/story1.html I was in KBay when that happened it sobered the hell out our crews. Everyone suddenly remembered flying in Hawaii wasn't all beach runs and bikinis. |