Team Geared Up

Pretty crazy vidoes!!

you want crazy?! try:

http://www.aoifek.com/2006/01/17/rocket-man/

Erm……I dunno if they’re the sort of videos you should be showing. Seems a little disrespectful to people who in all probability died in the crashes.

I doubt anyone died in either! Eitherway- I don’t think it’s disrespectful, better not to forget people and rather look in awe at how it happened (if it did). Both videos are all over the internet.

The video of the copter crash on the flight deck is real, and happened around a year ago (early 2005?). And yes, unfortunately, a few people did die. The pilot survived.

What happened there is that the skid of the copter caught the safety line, and when the pilot tried to adjust his landing by applying power, the helicopter got pulled over.

And I don’t think there is anything wrong with posting such material, as long as the causes are posted as well. In my opinion, that makes a potentially sensationalistic video a valid learning experience.

Any Mi-26 pilots out there? Need to ask some cockpit questions.

Must have really Gotcha

[...] Yes, you wouldn’t believe it but this helicopter crash videos page brings the most google searches to Geared Up. [...]

I enjoy reading through your blog. KarlaX

WOW. THEY ARE CRAZY.

i wonder what happened to the pilots, bet they were in trouble

Damn! my bf is a heli pilot and watching those crashes makes me pretty damned nervous!!

Hi Mark J,
Ive seen the CH46 video before and would be interested if you have details on the incident. It looks more like a single engine approach that goes wrong. A hard enough thing on land but when you only have a small deck to hit….. It looks like the vessel also knew he had a problem as there are two saftey boats in trail, not a standard procedure.
The second vid is French ALAT. This looks like an impromtue display gone wrong. The pilot has over cooked his approach and hit the tail causing the heli to spin. The co pilot is too busy posing with his arm out the window to shut off the FCLs and possibly save the aircraft.
However I agree with Mark J. If showing these vids save somebody else in a similar circumstance then show away. It internet is after all the best rescoure for these kind of teaching aids

better to watch these vidieos and remind ourselves (aircraft mechanics) what can go wrong if we don’t do our job right.

to true mo to true

Their are some crazy mishaps. That shows how dangerous and unpredictable things can be in rotory flight..

The 47 looks like a training flight and what he had was a dynamic roll over. He actually could have saved it by full down collective but being a newer pilot (assumed) then he prob panicked when it didn’t set perfect. He came in way to fast and with the 47 being a twin engine with VERY huge chord lines on those blades he still could have auto rotated in safely and wouldn’t have tried to pull back up into a hover if it was in fact a malfunction but known that was as good as he had. The other one was most surely a graduation or show of some sort and it does look like the pilot smacked the ground with the tail first. Unfortunately the only thing that could have saved it is to kill the throttle and kill the toque produced by the engines but I doubt the pilot was aware of what happened until the helicopter started its spin, and was to late. The guy I feel sorry for is the one that fell out and was bobbing and weaving his way away from the bird. Anyone know the outcome of that?

I worked on UH-60’s for many years…95% yes, 95% of all helicopter accidents/crashes are attributed to pilot error. Very few mechanical problems occur that have a direct effect on those stats. Engines fail, gear boxes and transmission seize, hydraulic malfunctions, rotor blades suddenly just fly appart or a blade is shucked, but the most causes are human error. Helicopters are designed as a rotory flying wing, a very precarious way to get air born, let alone fly fowrard with a level altitude. They are constantly trying to tear themselves apart as opposing rotations/torque stress their very design. Most accidents are error in judgement and expertise at the controls. A good pilot is an alive pilot when it comes to flying helicopters. They do not glide very well, but most have an auto-rotation feature that allows the blades to free-wheel giving lift so that only a HARD landing occurs…one where you just might walk away from but the helicopter my be a bit bent in the process. Like the experienced pilots say, “Any landing you walk away from is a good landing.” Thanks for posting on web…very informative.

ie: to blade is shucked. AH-64 Apache flying over Miss/Ala disappears, one rotor blade found, identified as AH-64 rotor blade…weeks later bass fisherman report oil oozing to surface in swamp. Turns out to be missing AH-64 with both transport, non-military, pilots aboard, they were deceased. The blade flew 1 mile from the crash site with the main body submerged deep into the muddy swamp. Mechanical failure.

The first video - the one on the flight deck - did not happen in 2005. This accident happend in 1999. Yes, people died - Marines died. I knew some of them and I attended the funeral. The person that wrote that the wheel got caught is correct.

Brendan (Only 1 Comment) Says:

In response to:

July 25th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
Hi Mark J,
Ive seen the CH46 video before and would be interested if you have details on the incident. It looks more like a single engine approach that goes wrong. A hard enough thing on land but when you only have a small deck to hit….. It looks like the vessel also knew he had a problem as there are two saftey boats in trail, not a standard procedure.

You can go to http://www.marinescoutsniper.com/sniperpages/galloway.html to find out more information. I knew the pilots, the two crew chiefs and the one veteran crew chief (of 20 years). His name is Gunnery SGT James Paige. The other two crew chiefs were hurt badly, but recovered phsycially, never mentally, as they lost a friend, mentor and great Marine (man) who loved the Marine Corps and his family.

The CH46 experienced an un controlled rate of decent (ROD) during the last 50ft. It’s whats known as Vortex ring state, high ROD, washing off airspeed and pulling in lots of collective pitch to hold the CH46 in a stable hover above the deck, instead they impacted the deck allowing the left rear gear strut to attach it’ self to the safety netting, when the pilot applied collective pitch up the helicopter experienced “Dynamic Roll over”. where it pivoted around a moment, thus reaching a critical point of no return in seconds. a simple sad mistake, thats easily done.

The 2nd is of the same principle high ROD, large flare, high pitch setting to allow a 5-6ft IGE hover. upon hitting the deck, the aircraft experienced a Tail rotor failure, this turning momentum can be stopped by rolling off the throttle, stopping the twisting motion of the main rotors, - the tail rotor stops the helicopter from wanting to spin in the same direction as the rotors.

I am a flight medic and know the risk of flying in helicopters. It is healthy to always be reminded that crashes and death happen in this line of work. It keeps you on your toes and is a reminder that you must always practice saftey everyday.

I lost my tail rotor in Vietnam. It was a UH-D on approach with nearly max power. When the tail rotor went the ship spun so fast there was hardly time to center the cyclic and bottom the collective. The folks behind me said that we went around three or four times. No injuries thank goodness.