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Now That Just Sucks!


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Commercial & Business Aviation

 

Narrative:

 

TSB Report#A14A0082: The Universal Helicopter AS350 B2, C-FXAL, was picking up hunters from a location 25 nm West of Deer Lake, NL. A hunter wanted to measure the size of the animal and a tape measure was tossed to the hunter by a passenger outside the aircraft. The tape measure contacted the helicopter's main rotor blade which was operating at full throttle. The pilot felt the impact and immediately shut down the helicopter. The rotor blade was damaged and was replaced before the helicopter returned to service.

 

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I don't know many pilots who haven't had that gut-wrenching feeling as they watched a passenger (or another pilot) do something really really dumb. Time slows to a crawl as you watch it helplessly unfold and just hope for the best...

 

I remember a few years ago watching in horror as a tree planter threw an axe towards one of his mates. I was at ground idle and had no options. As it left his hand, I wondered if it would hit the rotor or imbed itself into buddy's chest. Or both. Fortunately, neither happened. I shut down and tore that pot-smoking idiot a new one. He was on the bus home the next day...

 

Then there was the time a fellow pilot was starting up a LongRanger as I started up my Astar on the next pad over. I felt really bad for her when I noticed she hadn't removed her tie-down. There was no way for me to attract her attention. She only shut down once our engineer came running out and pointed at the immobile blade. I was really upset when I found out later in the day that a couple pilots from another company had seen it all unfold from 50 feet away and did nothing to stop it. They were gleefully showing the clips they'd shot on their phones, complete with play by play along the lines of "Oh look ! She forgot to remove her tie-down. This should be fun to watch !".

 

So yeah, Freefall, you're right. There are a bunch of f u c k e d - up morons amongst us... <_< However, as Harald points out, its good to discuss these things when we can. I can tell you that only a very small fraction of these sorts of brain farts make it to CADORS. I've witnessed a fair number of "events" that while no one was hurt, and were never reported in CADORS, cost a lot of money in bent helicopter bits... :lol:

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This thread makes me miss that Vortex publication TC used to publish and send out automatically. That little magazine did more for aviation safety than SMS ever will. However SMS may still be more productive than Vertical Forums banter and rants.

 

Here's a link for digital copies if you don't get them already and want them.

 

 

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/publications/tp185-menu-5395.htm

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I wonder if there is another industry where people thrive spreading word of each others misfortune as much as with helicopters.

No gloat intended Freefall. As the others mentioned, more of a wake up call to all of us. Just a copy/paste on my part. I could have easily blanked out the operator's name in hindsight. We've all had passengers who, even after a briefing, have gone and done something silly. In most cases, no damage ensues. That's the point I was trying to raise.

Matt

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Siren and loudspeaker have come in handy, the machines in the Park had to have them and have saved many a day. But was another 15 lbs to drag around.

 

There have been several times that I wished my machine had a "horn" or PA to warn someone. As goofy as it sounds, there have been many times it would have been super handy to get someone's immediate attention!

Ya, once you've had one you do miss them. Handy piece of gear that siren and PA. One chirp and you've got everyones attention.

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