edwinsmith

Just for anyone in the OC. Three are dead and 2 injured in a helecopter crash in Newport Beach CA.

Jim Lane

That is so sad.
I have flown in both R-22 and R-44 Robinson's and have a very uneasy feeling about them.

NJTman

That's a helicopter????

So small.

Sad.

maybe368

What was it doing? Was it a news copter, medical, private?...Mark

jimbo486

I caught it on the news immediately after it happened. It was said to be an R-44 which is a 4-seater and registered to a charter outfit at John Wayne airport. It clipped 2 adjacent houses before hitting the deck. The tail rotor punctured and is lodged in the roof of one of the houses.

The 3 deceased were said to be passengers. At least one injured was a passerby. The 5th injured could have been the 4th passenger. I haven't heard the latest or any other confirmations.

edwinsmith

My guess is it had an engine failure or other mechanical problem and was trying to autogyro down but had no place to go but the residential area. I've heard it said that chopers are always trying to kill you. I've never been in one and I doubt I ever will.

I saw on the news that one of the people killed was on the ground.

Jim Lane

My first experience was in an R-22 beta,

I was taking pictures, I was ok till the pilot took off the door so I could see better, you never know how insignificant you are till you lean out the door of one at 5000'.

The pilot gave me a crash course on autorotation at my request in case something happens to him.

Rebecca wants to fly in one but it is going to be a real one.

edwinsmith

"Crash course" being the operative phrase.

I looked at the specs of the R22 and R44 on wikipedia for Glide Ratio and I didn't see any. A quick google shows a typical ratio of 3 or 4 to one meaning you go 3-4 feet forward for every one foot down. This is a lot better than a Corsair which is about one to one similar to a falling safe.

I've done a dead stick landing in a Cessna 172 which is a piece of cake on a runway. Doing an autogyro into a residential neighborhood would be very difficult. They probably didn't have much altitude which extremely limits the options.

maybe368

It has a glide ratio, 0 to whatever your altitude is. I was in a continuing education class for the FD and they brought over a rescue chopper and gave us all rides in it. Of course the goal of the police pilots was to scare the wits out of the dumb firemen. Mission accomplished...Mark

MrFusion

I fly helicopters around my living room. One cat runs for his life and the other goes into attack mode. I occasionally do touch and go's off of a bar stool I use as an end table.

In all seriousness: Very sad for the families of the folks who died or were injured.

bigragu

I’ve been a part of at least a dozen helicopter rigs, where we hire helicopters to fly in our large A/C units. The units that landed on the second Sacramento Kings arena back in 1988 by helicopter were the size of boxcars. I remember that was my first helicopter pick as a fourth year apprentice, and I watched a pipefitter 5’ tall and as wide grab the unit when it was like 12” from the equipment pad. I saw a jolt come out of his hand, and he got thrown back like 12’! Ever since that day, if I see steel cables used to hoist equipment, I don’t touch it till one of the helicopter assistants on the roof grounds it out(static electricity).With nylon straps no worries there.

But one of the things always discussed in the pre task safety meetings prior to the lift, was the pilot will drop that unit wherever he is at, if trouble went down. That meant possibly on us installers. Better to release the load, than go crashing elsewhere with the load still attached.

mknittle

I have been on helicopter logging jobs like this.

edwinsmith

I have seen helecopters here and there and on TV. That's a close as I want to get.

NJTman

Amen!

maybe368

The technical rescue team of the PFD does all of these type of rescues. A buddy of mine on the team told me that they keep a sharp hatchet so that they can cut the ropes of the hanging rescuers in case of trouble with the chopper. Nice. The PPD has a landing pad near the top of Piestawa Peak in Phoenix. One time I was making my way down, when the chopper showed up to practice landing on it. It is small and there are lots of things that the rotors can strike, with just a small mistake. I stopped and watched them, until I realized that I was on their fall line and one of those little mistakes would have put them right on top of me. I, needless to say, skedaddled my way on down...Mark