Riverside Sheriff helicopter crash. Ouch!

[TrailerparkTrash]

This sucks but I'm glad the deps came out okay.



"A Riverside County sheriff’s helicopter crashed Thursday at Hemet-Ryan Airport, largely destroying the aircraft but not seriously injuring the two-person crew.

The mishap occurred around 11 a.m., during a training exercise on the northern end of the airfield, according to sheriff’s officials.

“While low-flying over the runway, the helicopter crashed,” said Deputy Albert Martinez.

He said the crew members walked away with minor injuries and were transported to a hospital for treatment.

The FAA is handling the accident investigation. Agency spokesman Ian Gregor told City News Service that the helicopter pilot was “practicing landing with a simulated engine power outage” when the chopper plowed into the runway.

It’s unclear if the pilot lost control or inadvertently dug a rotor blade into the pavement.

The photograph below shows the chopper on its side, the entire tail assembly sheared off and the craft’s main rotors bent."

http://patch.com/california/palm-desert/riverside-county-sheriffs-helicopter-crashes-during-training-exercise#.VAAKeGK9KSM

[CBR_rider]

Yikes! Glad the deputies are okay!

[Gnome]

Glad Dep are okay...

TPT,

What's that bill gonna come out to? What type of airship is that? U think Dep are gonna get days for this? Training on stalls has to be somewhat dangerous. I'd assume it'll be choked up as a training accident. I hope...

[TrailerparkTrash]

Glad Dep are okay...

TPT,

What's that bill gonna come out to? What type of airship is that? U think Dep are gonna get days for this? Training on stalls has to be somewhat dangerous. I'd assume it'll be choked up as a training accident. I hope...

It was an "Airbus A-Star" helicopter. From the pictures I saw today, it didn't appear that they had a FLIR ball, or a down-linking pod attached underneath. Looks like they have a night sun light near the rear of belly. Typical for flight training, maintenance removes that external equipment for doing full-down autos (if Riverside does those). Otherwise it really wrecks havoc on the equipment when they touch down. So, that equipment combined by itself right there with a light can be over a million dollars based on the models of each piece of equipment.

The A-star alone (depending on model, ie B2 or B3 variant) with the other equipment on board is gonna cost anywhere between 2.5 - 4 million +/-

I'll hear about the circs behind this unfortunate accident when I return to work Monday.

[Sleighter]

Oops. Auto-rotations can get you.

[flatbedtruckin]

Oops. Auto-rotations can get you.

Lol beat me to it... needs more time in the sim...

[SonofWWIIDI]

Wow! And they basically walked away! Modern crash science at work.

[InlandTaipan]

There's a few different types of autorotation training. This could have been full down auto training but that's done very infrequently due to the risk factor. More likely it was a tail strike during a power recovery autorotation. Heck, it could have even been while practicing a hover auto while stationary or taxi hovering.
A-stars are sweet machines. Although the early versions of them were jokingly called falling stars because the Allison turboshaft engines in them were not exceedingly reliable.

[Gnome]

Taipan,

Speak English please. I'm a lowly patrol deputy. Not that bright. I just respond to calls and write reports.

[Che762x39]

I am glad it turned out well. Remember this one?

http://www.odmp.org/officer/3882-investigator-michael-david-davis

I never forget my brothers and sisters that one was a tough one and it has ben 26 years.

[gmbat]

It'll buff out. Glad the crew is OK.

[Sleighter]

It'll buff out. Glad the crew is OK.

Yeah. Just needs a little wax and duct tape.

[pacrat]

Anything you walk away from is a "landing". So says an old pilot I know.

Glad they walked away from this one.

[TrailerparkTrash]

There's a few different types of autorotation training. This could have been full down auto training but that's done very infrequently due to the risk factor. More likely it was a tail strike during a power recovery autorotation. Heck, it could have even been while practicing a hover auto while stationary or taxi hovering.

I dig your name!!!! That's one venomous snake!!!!

In the A-stars, there's only two LE departments that I know of that do full down autos exclusively and regularly (every 3 months) with their pilots. Riverside is not one of them.

A tail strike in an A-star is really nothing. They happen frequently with full down autos in an A-star and a new pilot, but it's really a "non event." Most pilots in training don't even realize that they did a tail strike while pulling too much aft cyclic on the full auto touch down. I lost count on how many tail strikes I used to do when new in an A-star.

Hovering autos in a A-star, that doesn't go so well for guys that don't know what their doing or haven't been trained properly. The tail-cone point where it attaches to the main fuselage "accordions" up like a good thing, but generally doesn't ball up the ship like this one did in the picture. Then again, anything is possible.

Run-on landings with no hydraulics is another "non-event" in an A-star. Now trying to hover with failed hydraulics and not isolating them with the accumulator switch in time, is a different story. That could definitely cause a big crash like in the photo, but again we the public, still don't know the cause yet.

The masses haven't been told yet what exactly happened (except the crew and NTSB investigator that showed up there, the day of). It Could have been a botched auto, hydraulic recovery incident gone bad, hovering auto gone bad, or whatever..... We shall soon find out.

A-stars are sweet machines. Although the early versions of them were jokingly called falling stars because the Allison turboshaft engines in them were not exceedingly reliable.

That's why nobody gets the Allison's anymore (except cheap azz'd tour company owners). Now it's the better "Turbomeca" engine.