Saturday, 11 July 2009

A Sad Day in the Life of a Helicopter

This helicopter was rolled..the earth shook and screamed out in protest as the rotors travelling near the speed of sound sliced mother earth...of course it scared the crap out of the pilot and all those in vicinity. Would be rescuers appeared out of the ether in a matter of seconds...the pilot
un buckled and climbed out in a matter of 10 seconds.......I stood motionless for 5 seconds in shock with disbelief









Although not immediately apparent there is 50 =60K of damage here.

Notice the blades and head are still in tack a testament to their strength..not what you see with a Robbie

The accident...not just a single mistake but a compounding of "out points"
This was part of test flying of the newly constructed craft. It had a bout 5 hrs on the hobbs meter
This was the owner pilot first solo test flight
This happened after about 25 mins of slow ground manouvering
During this 25mins I had observed a couple of occassions when pilot control was a bit out of shape.
In the pilots words..."i was a bit out of shape so I thought it would be best not to be too high...the craft was on its side in a instant facing a different direction then I was in."
The rear passenger skid was broken off consistent with the craft hitting the ground side ways which would initiated the roll.
The day prior the pilot had put in a big days work so was not feeling overly fresh the day of accident.
On the day of accident the pilot was under some time constraints to get a fly in due to other commitments happening additionally the pilot hadn't eaten as he normally would have due to other time commitments.

This is how it probably looked....a typical roll over.......this one you can hear is getting low rotor rpm...hanging low on the passenger side...the skid digs in...the pilot equivocates on the throttle..doesn't actively correct skid levels/dump collective, or lift off...the roll continues to destruction. See following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMxTTZAHcFc&NR=1

Thursday, 12 February 2009

No Chance !

No chance of escape!




Someone who didn't make it!

180+ dead



In this photo, there is a 737 passenger airliner, shortly after takeoff from Melbourne airport.



Saturday 7th February 2009

Australia see's it's worst ever bush fire ever....drought conditions years of fuel build up due to political policies enforced by "The Greenies" coupled with high temperatures and driven by 70km wind the fires screamed through the country side with the sound of a 747 turbine killing 180+ person's who had no warning and no time to escape. Government avoids its culpability by announcing investigations which will take years to report and then bury [like they did for the Canberra firer's] and finding scapegoats by blaming arsonists instead of the bureaucrats who continue to lock up our forests making them tinder boxes so fires can once again rage and kill more innocent people and personal property.

Australia's Worst disaster

Country side still burning


Home sweet home....? the aftermarth

Panic escape blinded by smoke....didn't make it..

Victoria from Space showing Smoke



Fire Truck in Full Retreat



Koala dehydrated



Marysville




Kingslake
Hazelwood Power Station in the foreground of the photo