Blade Strikes...yikes!

[Helilog56]

Well with an incredible 8 hours dual I haven't had any yet  :up: but it seems like listening to you guys it will be inevitable.  One thing I noticed is many of your incidents occurred as higher time pilots. 

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CotW....please do not ascertain that the incidents were told with a cavalier attitude(s)....each has a little lesson for all to learn. I will use mine as examples, The shake block incident was here on the west coast of vancouver island, I was using 280' of line to stay above the snags, which can be tough to see under certain light conditions. Believe it or not, I had done a recce flight prior to starting the spot, the top of the snag i hit had the diameter of my little finger, I just never saw it!

The longranger incident happened in Ft St John area doing seismec, while moving crews early in the morning. It had just snowed the night before, it was early morning with the bright sun low in the sky, again I had recce'd the landing sight, but had to land into the sun, a tree that had been cut to accomodate the landing sight was hiding in the shadows.....again, I just did not see it!

The t/r incident was totally "stupid" on my part....my lack of experience using a short (100') line for that type of production work was my downfall. it was just plain and simple excessive" dive off the hill" idiotic flying. It was fortunate that the a/c only received modest damage after the t/r gbx exited the airframe.

The moral of the story here..... we are, after all human, and we do make mistakes.....so "learn from the mistakes of others" and you'll soon not make them yourself!

Fly Safe!

[Mac-Ex-wafu]

It was fortunate that the a/c only received modest damage after the t/r gbx exited the airframe.

 

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:shock: Whaaaaat !!! :shock:

 

I hope you were being ironic !

[cap]

Cry of The Wind ----- there once was a well-known and highly respected CP of a large company who wouldn't hire a high time pilot unless he had had at least an incident or accident during his career. I once asked him why and his reply was that have that incident or accident and walking into the coffee room days later was a humbling experience for most and knocked us all down a "peg or two" ego-wise. It also taught us that perhaps we weren't quite as much of a "hot shot" as we had convinced ourselves that we were. Dated though it may be, I find myself agreeing with that belief the longer I fly. Therfore, I am not one of those that raises an eyebrow at all when some pilot says he's had an incident or accident. My feelings are "welcome aboard and how was your walk into the company coffee room or hangar".

[Helilog56]

:shock: Whaaaaat !!! :shock:

 

I hope you were being ironic !

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[gannet]

Mine occurred at about 1000 hrs doing a practice hoist in a Lab. I was flying from the left seat (letting my FO get some right seat time) and had just finished thinking, "Wow, that tree is a great reference." when the FO in the right seat, who was minding the tail while the engineer was inside hooking up the Stokes litter, gently told me to steady right and ease left as I was making wood chips at the 5 o'clock position. Embarrassing, but fortunately only the blade caps were damaged. The lumberjack jokes didn't let up for quite a while after that tho'.

[Skids Up]

Once while drip torching, was trying to get to a pile of slash and was paying more attention to the slash pile and took of the top little bit off of a jackpine.

 

Could have been a lot worse if I hadn't been up pretty high while doing the block.

 

 

Look out, look out, look out, LOOK OUT!!! :shock: :shock:

[helidude]

Hey Amadeo, why don't you share with us your experience with your Astar pilot chopping poplars while seismicking in B.C. during the old days at ITIBITI!?

[justfly]

since this obviously happens, even to pilots with a great deal of experience, I wonder if there is a technology that could be reasonably (considering cost/weight/complexity) applied to gauge rotor tip proximity to objects?? Sort of a TAWS/GPWS for rotor tips? "Curb feelers" for copters???

[cap]

justfly -------yeah, it's called "watch what the F*** you are doing and pay attention assh*le" That comes directly from an engineer type "curb feeler".

[justfly]

yeah - I was thinking of something to help avoid that kind of discussion