ProfessorWes
Hawkeye
"Wanna get away?" as the commercials for a certain airline ask. Well . . .
A very close shave.
- Thread starter ProfessorWes
- Start date
bobsyouruncle
Blackhawk
WHEW! Don't ya just hate it when someone knocks your rotor off?
Wake 'em up time. Glad the on-foot guy didn't get hurt.
I bet that was an expensive fender bender. Hope no one was hurt.
Hope all involved were wearing their brown pants that day
bobsyouruncle
Blackhawk
Safe to assume all comments began with, HOLY...............
I wasn't there, so I can't know what came together to cause this.
At one time in my life, I was involved with very large groups of helicopters. On a fixed base tarmac, each helicopter had its own mooring location, with the ground plainly marked, or a mooring marker to create ample clearance between birds. Even then, the crew chief or other ground personnel would guide the bird into position.
From only what I saw in the video, the offending helicopter came in pretty hot for the real estate conditions available. The guy was awfully sure of himself.
At one time in my life, I was involved with very large groups of helicopters. On a fixed base tarmac, each helicopter had its own mooring location, with the ground plainly marked, or a mooring marker to create ample clearance between birds. Even then, the crew chief or other ground personnel would guide the bird into position.
From only what I saw in the video, the offending helicopter came in pretty hot for the real estate conditions available. The guy was awfully sure of himself.
DeletedMember275
Hunter
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2002
- Messages
- 2,759
Probably a former Apache pilot.
I’m just glad it wasn’t the vid of the losing the top of his melon.
In my world, it would have been an OH-58 pilot. Exactly what these birds were.
Ouch!!!! My friend Shep was a member of the 101st Airborne stationed at Fort Campbell Kentucky in the early 1960's. A Chinook helicopter lost a rotor in midair and crashed. The falling rotor barely missed him and several of his squad members.
bobsyouruncle
Blackhawk
You see the guy knocked to the ground, he then picks himself up runs and grabs fire fighting equipment anticipating whats next
Often Wrong but Never in Doubt!!!
Where's Contender, he can fix that in a jiffy.
I read all y'all's comments before watching the video and I have to say my first comment was Damn! That was fast, what a mess is just split second.
Air crew from the helo on the ground walked away but I wonder if they were injured. The airborne helo probably got hurt as they weren’t moving away from a burning aircraft.
I have seen injured airmen una$$ a damaged aircraft with amazing speed.
I have seen injured airmen una$$ a damaged aircraft with amazing speed.
contender
Ruger Guru
As I watched it, I immediately said; "Uh-oh,, he's too close,," about the time the rotors hit each other. And then I watched the well trained guy run towards the necessary firefighting equipment. I thought; "Kudos!"
Several of us around here are former "rotorheads" of some variety. But,, I had to chuckle at Mobuck's comment; "Where's Contender, he can fix that in a jiffy."
Frank, (Fox Mike) myself & a slew of others can rebuild stuff easily,, but boy will it be expensive. Unless the airframes were damaged beyond specs.
I'm just glad to see nobody was hurt from what we see.
Several of us around here are former "rotorheads" of some variety. But,, I had to chuckle at Mobuck's comment; "Where's Contender, he can fix that in a jiffy."
Frank, (Fox Mike) myself & a slew of others can rebuild stuff easily,, but boy will it be expensive. Unless the airframes were damaged beyond specs.
I'm just glad to see nobody was hurt from what we see.
DeletedMember275
Hunter
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2002
- Messages
- 2,759
A Kiowa pilot was my second guess.
My best friend was stationed at Ft Campbell with the 101st airborne “Death From Above”. He went to Okinawa and from there to RVN with 5th group SF. Two tours (64-66) later he came home. He made it to 2017 79 years- sure do miss you Ed Cole!
bobsyouruncle
Blackhawk
contender
Ruger Guru
The Bell Jet Ranger was basically the same military helicopter that was called; OH-58 Kiowa. Flown a few of them myself.
powder smoke
Hawkeye
WoW
Well in Navy speak, it is the TH-57 Sea Ranger which is used to train the World's Best Rotary-Wing Aviators
Here are two of the World's Best
Last edited:
I relate (indirectly). My Army CWO Blackhawk son was a Chinook maintainer before becoming a pilot. He spent 6 years fixing/preparing 160th SOAR Chinooks (including the Chinooks that went on the bin Laden mission - POTUS shook my son's hand afterwards).
Now he's an MTP (maintenance test pilot) and occasionally has to "autorotate" a Blackhawk to the ground. He suspects he has more autorotate experience than most Blackhawk pilots. He's also a Maintenance Evaluator (ME), responsible for certifying that other MTPs continue to demonstrate the competence required to function as MTPs.
Every repaired bird MUST pass an MTP inspection before being re-certified to fly. And then the MTP must certify that all of the paperwork (documenting the problem, the solution and the fix) is properly completed and logged into the Army's systems. This gives the Army a cumulative history of every maintenance action (both scheduled and unscheduled) performed on every bird. Whenever a bird suffers a mechanical failure, Army accident investigators make a bee-line to the bird's maintenance records.
freakindawgen
Blackhawk
If the second helo parked backwards the blades would 50-50 chance of missing each other. 
I have worked on both of these. Since then, the 57's have been replaced and the 34's also. Shame after 20 years hard to see them all at Davis Moffett boneyard. Especially since we just replaced the bulkheads and spars in several.
I have worked on both of these. Since then, the 57's have been replaced and the 34's also. Shame after 20 years hard to see them all at Davis Moffett boneyard. Especially since we just replaced the bulkheads and spars in several.
Attachments
It's hard to see but it looks to me like the guy on the ground was not centered on the yellow mark denoting his position but was somewhat closer to the other pad. That could put them too close even if the incoming bird hit his mark properly.
I had exactly the same thought.
It also looks to me like ground guy is not on his spot,. But flying guy should have noticed that rather than just landing on his spot. He just focused on his spot and did not look around.
Interesting data: The US military has roughly 5,400 active-duty helicopters (all types) in inventory. The Navy has fewer than 600 of those helicopters; the rest are in the Army (which I suspect includes National Guard units).
Last time I checked, all branches of the military send their pilots to the Army's Fort Rucker, AL training center for basic helicopter pilot training. After graduation from the Fort Rucker basic school, each branch of the military trains its helicopter pilots for the specific aircraft they will ultimately fly.
Last time I checked, all branches of the military send their pilots to the Army's Fort Rucker, AL training center for basic helicopter pilot training. After graduation from the Fort Rucker basic school, each branch of the military trains its helicopter pilots for the specific aircraft they will ultimately fly.
Nope The Navy trains fist in fixed wing then they train the students that are selected for Helos in Navy Helos with Navy and Marine Corps Instructors. The students are Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, and some foreign.
Helo training takes place at "Flying Whiting" NAS Whiting Field Milton, FL.
Helo training takes place at "Flying Whiting" NAS Whiting Field Milton, FL.
