Helicopter Crash!

[BERNIE MOSFET]

I refuse to ever fly in one of those !

In one of what? A helicopter?

Psshaw! They work great so long as the pilot doesn't fly into anything and/or important parts don't fall off.

[CexMashean]

We're there any fatalities in this? The pilot looked fine, but at about the 1:18 mark of the first video, it looks like human road kill, right under the body of the chopper. Maybe it something else....but it looks awfully red and bloody.

One guy in black doesn't look like he made it away.

The neon yellow under the engine/exhaust/whatever looks to be his vest.

[BERNIE MOSFET]

Here's an interview with the pilot.


He was running guy wires for a 7 story tall christmas tree in Auckland. Looks like someone pulled the wire into the rotor.

I'm not so sure I'd feel good about how the pilot's seat in that AS350 failed.

[helosailor]

Here's an interview with the pilot.


He was running guy wires for a 7 story tall christmas tree in Auckland. Looks like someone pulled the wire into the rotor.

I'm not so sure I'd feel good about how the pilot's seat in that AS350 failed.

That's a great video, Drew. A lot of (the majority?) of civilian helos don't have truly crash-worthy seats. I can guarantee that an H-60 seat wouldn't have failed in a similar situation.
That pilot, man, he's a cool customer. He's like "crashed a helicopter, could have been killed, meh...no big deal."

[BERNIE MOSFET]

That's a great video, Drew. A lot of (the majority?) of civilian helos don't have truly crash-worthy seats. I can guarantee that an H-60 seat wouldn't have failed in a similar situation.
That pilot, man, he's a cool customer. He's like "crashed a helicopter, could have been killed, meh...no big deal."

No kidding. I don't know about New Zealand CAA requirements, but latest FAA regulations require at least an 8g inertial side loading before failure. However, the AS350 was originally certified in 1977 and subject to the original applicable 1965 requirement of 2g inertial side loading.

If he came down flat he might not have walked out of there. Broken backs are no fun.