Eng Crash On Camera

[Blackmac]

The helicopter pilot had reported a "tail rotor failure" to air traffic controllers at Kennedy International Airport moments before the 6:21 p.m. crash, according to Jim Peters, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.

[downwash]

It does look to us as though the T/R was still turning, and could likely not be windmilling for that long. It appears as though he MAY have tried to autorotate onto the building he struck with the gear and the T/R. The ship looks like it could be straightening out just before the first strike, possibly indicative of the reduced torque that would be in effect. The degree of disorientation that was likely could easily have prevented him from judging a more successful landing.

 

Again, praise be that they all got out.

[T-rex]

Saw the scene on TV again, Tail rotor seems to be turning just fine!

[Needles Split]

:ock:

I've seen the footage several times today, but the best was on CTV News.... there was another tape from an A/C that shows the AS350 in what appears to be straight and level flight. Then it seems like he had a hard over to the right and began to descend. Shortly there after was when the spinning began, which in my opinion is someone trying to fight an AStar without hydraulics and who obviously was losing the battle (the extreme nose up & down attitudes) throw in a few lateral movements, along with a couple of peddle inputs and everything is going to go for #### in a hurry. To make matters worse, his choice of landing areas was extremely limited........its not like he had ten thousand feet by two hundred wide pavement.

 

He did his best and fortunately it was enough!

 

Glad no one hurt

 

 

* Want a bet TC is watching this one closely?

[skullcap]

Would wonder why the pilot thinks he had a t/r problem and not hydraulic problem. As blacmac states it is reported that the pilot radio'd that he had a t/r malfuntion. Be reminded that he may have been attempting to arrest the rotation by pushing in the hyd test switch which would have caused the rotation to slow but if the switch is not reset then the hydraulics are lost, and maybe this is what could be causing the pitch angles to change. Am sure that we will know very soon what the cause was, no need to burn any witches, or loose any hundred dollar bets.

 

sc

[407 Driver]

Here's the Pilots statement on what happened....

 

_______________________________________________

 

 

By RALPH R. ORTEGA

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

 

 

Pilot Russ Mowry, in hospital bed, says he was hovering when 'something happened.'

 

 

Wreckage of Chopper 4 copter is lowered from roof of Brooklyn apartment building yesterday.

 

Helicopter pilot Russ Mowry was shot down three times in Vietnam - but the crash of his Channel 4 news chopper on a Brooklyn rooftop was the scariest moment of his life.

"I was looking death in the face," Mowry told the Daily News yesterday in an exclusive interview in his hospital room. "I knew I was going to die."

 

Miraculously, none of the three men aboard was killed in the Tuesday accident, and Mowry, 60, was feeling well enough yesterday to give a gripping account of the near catastrophe.

 

From his bed at Brookdale University Hospital, where he was nursing a black eye and cuts on his right leg, he recounted how disaster struck in the sky above Flatbush.

 

He and his WNBC crew mates, reporter Andrew Torres and co-pilot Hassan Taan, were covering a police shooting for the 6 p.m. newscast. "We were sitting there at a dead hover at 1,000 feet and I was just flying the helicopter, and then something happened - it just came out of control," Mowry said.

 

The veteran pilot, who has logged more than 9,000 hours in the air, radioed the control tower at Kennedy Airport that the Eurocopter AS350's tail rotor had failed. The tail rotor counteracts the immense turning power of the main rotor.

 

"I just tried to control the aircraft, to keep it level," he said. "But when it went nose-down, that sucker was going down. It was instantaneous. It was all over before it happened."

 

As people on the street stared in horror and scrambled for cover, Mowry "was holding the trigger on the control stick" and hoping he would land on a roof instead of the street.

 

"I told the tower, 'I'm going down! I'm going down!'" he remembered.

 

The chopper jerked across the skyline, spinning wildly before veering toward the top of a four-story apartment house at 2502 Cortelyou Road.

 

In the moment before the aircraft slammed into a parapet, only one thought flashed through Mowry's mind: "I saw that brick wall and I knew I was gonna die."

 

The Lincoln Park, N.J., man said he cannot recall the impact - or how the whirlybird did a 360-degree flip, sheared off its tail and landed in a crumpled heap atop 2514 Cortelyou. "Your mind erases that," he said.

 

But after seeing a photo of the wreckage on the front page of The News, he knew it was amazing he escaped with such minor injuries.

 

"How lucky can you get?" he asked.

 

Mowry, a Boston-born father of three grown kids who races vintage cars and rides BMW motorcycles in his spare time, dismissed any suggestion he was a hero. He said that although his military training taught him to aim for a rooftop instead of the ground in a crisis, he was not able to control Chopper 4 at all.

 

"It was fate, the odds. It wasn't grand design," he said. "There was nothing I could do. I just had to ride it down. I'm just so glad I'm the one who got hurt."

 

The Army vet earned two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star in Vietnam, but says getting shot down in combat "was a cakewalk compared to this."

 

He said he expects to have vivid memories of the moment he lost control of the helicopter "forever," but insists they won't ground him.

 

"I'll fly again," he vowed. "I got a long way to go. I got the best job in the world."

[100ft]

If a machine suffers a sudden hyd failure triggering a violent attitude change such as MAY have happened here, would a reasonable response be to grab as much fwd a/s as possible as soon as possible and to maintain that speed with a view toward an eventual run-on?

 

I only know first hand simulated hyd failure in a 44 but never experienced anything more than a stiff cyclic. My second question is asking if a violent uncontrolled attitude change is one of the listed potential symptoms of the recent AS350 AD issue relating to hydraulics off flight?

 

100'

[sharkbait]

I know it is not a quote but: "military training taught him to aim for a rooftop instead of the ground in a crisis."

I am willing to bet that is a huge misquote or a statement taken out of context but it gave me such a laugh imagining a military instructor. " Alright Cadet Daze! Listen up! When the the engine crisis occurs head for the nearest rooftop."

Next time I have a problem I am going to refer to it as a crisis - Engine Crisis on takeoff - Hydraulic crisis - electrical crisis. My initial actions will be refered to as crisis intervention. Training will become crisis counciling. Not only will you have to put the fire out but you will have to feel good about yourself. I see a new day in emergency procedures training - The mind boogles!

Mr Mowry would probably like to have a little talk with that reporter.

I am continually amazed by what reporters say when talking about stuff I know about. I find they get it 40% wrong. They may get Who, What and When correct but usually screw up the How and the Why - makes one wonder about the reporting concerning things of which I have no knowledge.

Interesting that he doesn't talk about control failure such as feedback or jamming.

The beast just went out of control. In a hover at 1000ft He initially thought it was tail rotor failure. HUMM!!! Fascinating Holmes!!! Fascinatiing!!!

I wonder what the relative wind was ? Gross WT? Torque?

For some reason the vidio portion of the tape won't download over here in sandland so I guess I'll see it back in Canada next week.

Just glad everyone is OK. :up:

[Jet Jocky]

All iam going to say is that the pilot did one fine job of bringing the AStar down and saving the lives o the two in the back. I think its a little early to speculate about the cause of the crash other than saying that the machine isn't going to fly again anytime soon.

 

JJ

[407 Driver]

What's your professional opinion on this one MAG?

 

It appears that some type of control-loss issue existed.

It's interesting how each person on board recalls different items.

I personally can't see it just being a "pilot" problem?

 

Comments?

 

 

SharkBait, it was a 350BA, so given an EW of 2900 lbs (heavy ENG aircraft?), 80 USG of Jet A (560 Lb), 3 persons @ 200 Lbs = approx 4100 Lbs. The AUW is 4630, so he was well within HOGE limits @ 1,300 ASL. The local airport wind was reported at 310@14 Kts, he was hovering at 270 to 290, so probably almost into wind.