Astar ditched at Copacabana

[jim_222]

this happened probably yesterday:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kmrIubcFzQ

[Rotortramp]

Wonder what happened. Can't really hear the engine, and it seemed like relatively controlled flight into the water.

[Helipilot PTK]

Looks like loss of power. "The pilot reported low RPM horn and light were on" but where I got this was not a reliable source.

[helonorth]

Looks like he asked for more power than was available. He ran out of airspeed, altitude and ideas all at the same time. I don't know why the pilot was flying 50' above the water, but you leave yourself no plan B.

[Nearly Retired]

I'm no expert, but...

 

From the ambient noise in the microphone, it sounds like the wind is coming toward the beach right off the water. This would put the Astar in a left-crosswind condition as he honked it back into a hover. Yeah, I'll bet the low rotor light and horn were on!

 

It *looks* to me like the pilot realized it wasn't going to work out - max power? Starting to settle? Anyway, he apparently decided to nose it over and go for airspeed and get outta there. (Maybe you can tell what the rotor is doing from the video - slowing perhaps?) Only...he needed to trade off some altitude to get that airspeed, and he didn't have any altitude. He goes into the water cleanly, and (again) it *looks* like the highly-coned rotor is still up at 100% - at least, judging by the splash when the blades finally hit.

 

So, a "soft" crash-landing in relatively shallow warm water. Why then do they send yet another single-engine, non-float-equipped Astar to "rescue" them? And WHY do Brazilian men wear such skimpy bathing suits? Do they really think anyone wants to see that?

 

And while we're on the subject...me and my girlfriend went to Rio once. To fit in, I ditched my boardshorts and (against my better judgment) bought one of those little Speedo things. Hey, when in Rome...err, when in Rio... But I felt very, um, let's say "inadequate" walking around on the beach. People were pointing and snickering. Over dinner at a nice restaurant that night, my girlfriend, who was very sympathetic, suggested that I get a potato and put it in my bathing suit. So next day I did that and we go to the beach and I take off my over-shorts and, well, now people were pointing and laughing! I was, like, WTF-over! That's when my girlfriend leaned close to me and said, "Honey, next time maybe you should try putting it in the front."

 

Anyway, the Astar looks like a classic case of pilot-dumbassedness. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Helicopters are VERY easy to crash.

[akscott60]

Ditching : the video to your CH9 EP.

[RagMan]

^^ Haha! Well played akscott60, well played

[DS_HMMR]

Looking at the video, seeing the spray coming off the waves, the birds in flight, and all the other wind indicators, the pilot was directly into the wind. BUT, you can see he ran into low rotor on his initial flare and then tried to fly out of it…too late. Expensive mistake. Hope everybody lived to tell the tale.

[Spike]

Looks like a B2 or maybe a B3. Even if it was a B2, I’d think it would have the juice to do the job even though no specifics are given. Based on what’s on the video, it would appear the machine simply lost power. Not sure why. At sea level, even with a pig of a machine and triple digit temps, the B2 does a good job. The gray heavily equipped B3 surly didn’t have an issue or the secondary red Astar that showed up after the fact.

[pilot#476398]

On a beach in Rio, yet 2:55 boobless minutes!

 

Settling with power, or just too hot and heavy? Either way, it looks like he had plenty of time to say,..."awh sh*t"

[Counterrotate]

The guy on the skid had enough time to get back into his seat. That little move may have saved his life. Appears to be power failure to me, but I'm no expert. I do have some pilot friends in Brazil that may have more details. I'll see what I can dig up.

[Wally]

Looks to me like a partial power failure, at least. Terminating in left quartering headwind (pretty brisk) after a fairly aggressive downwind turning descent and enough power to keep the rotor turning but not much else...

Never had a Turbomecca spool down so far it couldn't recover NG to maintain flying NR, but had a 250 do so. Long, descending, decelerating turns with the rotor coasting (autorotating) allowed everything to decel except N2, the bypass opens, agressive flare to the the hover and pull... and the pad getting bigger and bigger! Roll off to the side and dive for speed while everything wakes up...

Edited December 31, 2012 by Wally

[iChris]

Link: Authorities from the Rio de Janeiro state fire department said an unspecified mechanical failure caused the crash.

 

The four people on board suffered minor injuries, according to officials from the fire department.

 

Temperatures of 30C – 40C (86F – 104F) had been reported that week along with 19km/h (12mph) winds and relative humidity in the 75% range.

 

 

ASN Safety Database, Accident AS350-B3

 

 

http://youtu.be/FjIH1kJ8xqs

Edited December 31, 2012 by iChris

[S9coldfire]

I was in Rio in 2009 and when we first got there we were kind of dissapointed at the size of the waves (even coming from Colorado). But within a few days everything had changed and the waves were big enough that they were advising people not to go swimming, but unlike here in the states, they still let people go out if they chose to. We watched at least 1 person get rescued and winched into a heli everday, including a guy that was staying at our hostel. I don't think they charged him anything, but I can definitely think of some better ways to get a helicopter ride!

 

S&R would make the most sense as to why it was so low with so little airspeed..

[BH206L3]

Well why would anybody in there right mind fly over water like that with out pop out floats is beyond me. Or at least at an Altitude that will get you at least to dry land. I could not hear any engine noise over the wind on the video. It looks to me that the approach was a little fast and when he or she pulled pitch to stop, got rotor droop, settled with power and hit the water. And the pilot is going to say what ever to get out of it, and he or she will just make it worst in the end. To many cell phones with video cameras. It happens. Its something to watch a helicopter beat itself to death and then sink. They do that.

[adam32]

Within a week that ship will be on eBay with new "freshly overhauled" blades...

[iChris]

It *looks* to me like the pilot realized it wasn't going to work out - max power? Starting to settle?

 

Settling with power, or just too hot and heavy? Either way, it looks like he had plenty of time to say,..."awh sh*t"

 

It looks to me that the approach was a little fast and when he or she pulled pitch to stop, got rotor droop, settled with power and hit the water. And the pilot is going to say what ever to get out of it

 

May have been a mechanical failure as reported, which led to the reduction of available power.

 

Everything being normal and looking at the numbers for the AS350-B3, there should not have been any performance or settling issues from what’s shown in the video.

 

AS350-B3 Sea Level @ 40C (104F)

6,080 lbs. HOGE Gross Wt.

-3,116 lbs. BEW (average)

-840 lbs. Pilot/crew 4 each @ 210#

-667 lbs. Fuel 98 gallons (2 hrs.)

-243 lbs. High humidity (>75%) factor (Less 4% of HOGE)

----------

1,214 lbs. Under gross

Edited January 4, 2013 by iChris

[Gomer Pylot]

You can clearly see the rotor RPM spooling down. Can't tell why, but it is decreasing, and in an AS350 it decreases quickly if the engine quits. Nobody is going to install popout floats just for the occasional run down the beach. It's not like he was miles offshore. And putting it on the beach was not a good choice, with thousands of people covering it. As far as I can tell from shaky video, the pilot did a good job of getting it down with no injuries.