[DaveW]

Once past the advert at the start the video is a real eye opener!
Man that ground crew were very very lucky.... And the Pilot OMG!!!
At one point in the slowmo you can see he's flung halfway out the door as it's going down!


Auckland Helicopter Crash, Greg Gribble Returns... | Stuff.co.nz

 

[sanjuro]

Gotta run!

 

[eric strt6]

I do medflight helicopter ops as part of my Fire Dept. job. A bird crashing is one of my biggest fears. We had fog whip in at 3am just as Stanford Life Flight was lifting from the parking lot at the intersection of Hwys 9& 35. There are 80-100 tall trees on two sides of the landing zone and power lines on the other two. when the helo got into the fog he lost his horzion and started occilating and drifting towards the power lines. The IC radioed the warning Power lines at your rear , go forward and down now. They cut power and came down forward and hit the ground hard, those of us on the ground had jumped behind the engine or went over the side of the road into the drainage ditch. We got everyone out and sent them off in a ground ambulance. The helo sat in the lot until Mechanics and the FAA cleared it for flight to a repair center. Scared the piss out of me as I was close to both the helo and the power lines [ I dove into the ditch].

That crew in the video is so lucky, especially the ground crewman that was under the helo to do the hook up and the pilot.

 

[eaterofdog]

“...the helicopter symbolizes the victory of ingenuity over common sense.”

 

[splat]

I'm sure its MMike's fault

 

[Pesqueeb]

Yikes. When its your time, its your time. Obviously not their time.


I owe eaterofdog rep.

 

[IH8Rice]

I'm sure its MMike's fault

when isnt it?

 

[insanitylevel9]

lucky sob thats for sure, speaking of mmike i haven't seen any posts from him lately did he get teh rapture?

 

[DirtyMike]

Hmmm Curious what happened here, almost hear a shaft snap, or a gear bearing seizing....... Amazing how much force is actually running in these.

 

[sstalder5]

I'll be sure not to take any helicopter rides when I move to Auckland...

 

[Pesqueeb]

Hmmm Curious what happened here, almost hear a shaft snap, or a gear bearing seizing....... Amazing how much force is actually running in these.

Pretty sure the first sound you hear is the rotor hitting the cable. If you look closely you can see it get sucked into the rotor arc. The high pitch squeal you can hear after the helicopter comes to rest is probably the turbine in distress/spooling down. Safe to assume that everything is no longer square or in alignment. Tolerances are pretty tight so it doesn't take much.

 

[MMike]

Discovery Channel Video Player

Explanation here, at around the 3:40 mark

main rotor hit the long-line. I had to watch it a couple of times before I saw it.

 

[DirtyMike]

Ok I didnt see the line hitting the rotor either.... That explains the tail snapping off teh way it did.... But Yeah I know the whine afterwords is the turbine spooling down..... Good reminder for people to know how long it really takes for these motors to shut down completly

 

[eric strt6]

it appears that the ground crewman flipped the cable for some reason and it got sucked into the rotor

watch the vid, they show him flipping the cable in highlight

New look at spectacular crash - Video on mnsbc.com

 

[valve bouncer]

Shonte Jr.: Anybody know how to fly this damn thing?
Jamaal: Motherf*cker, it can't be that hard, it's just lift versus drag and rotation.
Lee Harvey: Yeah, man, get your head out your ass.