What is it with Robinson helos anyhow? They appear in accident reports awfully often?
Is it just that the are the “cheapest” helos around and therefore attract the most inexperienced people?
Or are they inherently dangerous?
Mooney_Driver wrote:
What is it with Robinson helos anyhow? They appear in accident reports awfully often?
I think it’s mainly because there are many of them around and – AFAIK – they are also the training helos of choice.
Also any entry level product (not that an R44 is quite the bottom end) will generate extra accidents, because it sets a smaller bar to less experienced pilots.
Helicopter flying is more difficult than fixed wing flying and more accidents happen. The price to insure a helicopter says it all. It’s a horror scenario getting into IMC in an R44, and if strongly advised against. So it’s probable that the poor pilot did not have any real experience doing it. A dreadful accident, I feel for all concerned.
As an aside, helicopter flying requires currency even more so than fixed wing. I see people over here learning to fly one, which of course is a blast. I just hope that it’s either a ‘bucket list’ thing (and that one leaves it afterwards, or only flies with a safety pilot) or that one is serious about it and flies often (which is darned expensive, so not easy for many..). Flying 10-20 hours a year may (just) be safe on a fixed wing, not in a helicopter in my view.
I actually stopped flying the R44 for this reason, need to update my profile!
C172driver wrote
“He actually seems to be attempting just that …”
and alexis
I think, that´s exactly the point. Watch the Airspeed Indicator (thirth from left in the upper row): shows zero.
And watch the Attitude Indicator the last seconds of the flight. The Pilot was obviously unable to control the light,
unstable helicopter while hovering.
There are another video on YouTube, 26 minutes long. It shows how long the pilot fly in that weather conditions.
That’s exactly what I think. I did have the chance to do the (FAA) helicopter licence right at the factory in Torrance, in 1999, but decided against it, knowing that I would never get enough experience to be safe.
I remember how I spent three hours trying to learn to hover, and that was on a calm day …
Here’s a photo I made of the R44 above downtown L.A. from another R44! The following day I got my first lesson.
In Belgium we have 6 times more GA fixed wing aircraft than helicopters, yet the number of accidents is the same. A local pilot with a Jetranger came to grief on return from a Christmas holiday with his family a number of years ago. He flew into high-tension wires, wiping out the entire family of 5. Sad.
well, here in Europe, where you mostly have to land at airports, what’s the point anyway.
Lots of helicopters landing off airports in France and the UK.
As I understand it, the IFR training in the US with the Robinsons is all simulated IMC, under the hood or with foggles and an instructor, always in VMC. As I’ve heard it described, it’s enroute and approaches ending with, e.g., “breaking out” at minimums or going around, (like my FAA fixed wing IR training) – so presumably wouldn’t involve landings or hovering, just forward motion. I’m fixed wing IR and I’ve never taken off, landed or taxied under the hood or under zero visibility conditions (even though that might be legal), that seems to me to all be pretty stupid – it sounds like hovering or landing a helicopter (certainly a simple one like a Robinson) would be analogously stupid. In an A320 with the correct equipment, pilot skills, two pilots and training, a different story, I suppose. I did my instrument training and rating SEL in aircraft without an autopilot, and my MEL without ever using the autopilot, but for me in real life operations, generally single pilot, a non working autopilot and IMC conditions means I’m staying on the ground.
I’ve heard some funny stories about odd interactions with ATC when during the R44 IFR training approach pilots encounter actual IMC and the instructor and student need to discontinue the “instrument” approach due to the presence of a bit of clouds… which approach controllers don’t really understand… “So you are discontinuing the ILS approach due to encountering IMC and your aircraft is negative IFR certified? What exactly are you doing on my approach?”
The last one I remember was Hannes Arch, a well known Red Bull racing pilot, who after a delivery to a mountain hut in the Austrian Alps (which he regularly did as a pro bono job) took off in total darkness in the mountains, crashed and died. His Co, a friend of his, survived with severe injuries. It was a Robinson as well, AFAIK.
