Mechanical hard landing Honolulu

[Karl]

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/20130508_Helicopter_crashes_in_downtown_Honolulu.html

[rotornut67]

Glad everyone walked away!!

[Flying Pig]

A good friend of mine watched this happen. He said the helicopter skidded onto the street and slid about 125 ft and hit the car. All in all.... looks like she did it right.

[JDHelicopterPilot]

Hard landing? I would hate to see a crash. Glad all were ok and no one was in the car I assume.

[ridethisbike]

Glad everyone is ok, which is why it's ok to ask, did anyone else laugh at the report?

 

”And that’s the only damage, besides the helicopter, was this one car – and a parking meter.”

[Nearly Retired]

A good friend of mine watched this happen. He said the helicopter skidded onto the street and slid about 125 ft and hit the car. All in all.... looks like she did it right.

 

Wait. What? 125 foot ground run and "she did it right?" Uhhh, can I get a second opinion, doctor? 125 foot ground run and the only thing that stopped her from going further was a PARKED CAR??

 

Okay, if you have that much ground run at the end of an auto, then we can assume a couple of things: 1) You totally blew the entry. Okay, that's just one thing.

 

Do a Google Maps search of Beretania and Kukui Streets in Honolulu and ask yourself why in God's name anyone would be flying so low over that area that you could not find a decent spot to put it down and set up the auto without ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE FEET of ground run. I'm not familiar with Robbies, but that's more than a couple of skid-lengths, no? It's like, what, 20?;

 

I'd say...and this is just one man's humble opinion...but I'd say she did NOT "do it right." She lived, yes, but only because there weren't any cars coming the other way on the street and it didn't burn. Or something. Luck, maybe. Good fortune. Coincidence. Providence. Guardian angel, perhaps. (Oops! Better not bring that up!) I'd say...and again this is just one pompous pilot's humble opinion...but I'd say that as a minimum that woman needs some remedial training in: 1) altitudes to fly over congested areas, and 2) autorotation entries and touchdowns.

 

Just sayin'...

[Nearly Retired]

Damn! There's enough God/prayer/miracle talk in this newspaper article for a whole Joel Osteen sermon!

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2321770/Woman-pilot-Julia-Link-crash-lands-helicopter-Hawaii-street-engines-fail--amazingly-injured.html

 

[Paco]

CNN's got security video of the touchdown: http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c4#/video/us/2013/05/12/nr-weekend-keilar-helicopter-crash.cnn

[ridethisbike]

NR, how would a botched entry make for a long ground run at the end of the flare?

 

I agree there could have been more ground speed lost prior to touchdown, but how do you know there wasn't a reason that might have prevented that loss of speed?

[Flying Pig]

She and her passenger are alive. Thats doing it right. Armchair quarterbacking on VR is a luxury we have. I would imagine the pilot could care less what any of us think about the details.

[aeroscout]

She and her passenger are alive. Thats doing it right. Armchair quarterbacking on VR is a luxury we have. I would imagine the pilot could care less what any of us think about the details.

One VR poster often adds the disclaimer YMMV. It would be just my luck that taking me out of the armchair, and putting me at the controls all else being equal that my mileage would leave me with an empty tank in the middle of nowhere.

[Pilot4him]

I would second the fact that anytime a pilot and passenger walks away from an R22 engine failure over a city, it's a good day.

Could she have done better? Yeah, probably.

Would we have done better if in her shoes? Depends on the pilot.

Would I still be thankful to have walked away from such an accident as she did? Yes!

[Counterrotate]

 

Wait. What? 125 foot ground run and "she did it right?" Uhhh, can I get a second opinion, doctor? 125 foot ground run and the only thing that stopped her from going further was a PARKED CAR??

 

Okay, if you have that much ground run at the end of an auto, then we can assume a couple of things: 1) You totally blew the entry. Okay, that's just one thing.

 

Do a Google Maps search of Beretania and Kukui Streets in Honolulu and ask yourself why in God's name anyone would be flying so low over that area that you could not find a decent spot to put it down and set up the auto without ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE FEET of ground run. I'm not familiar with Robbies, but that's more than a couple of skid-lengths, no? It's like, what, 20?;

 

I'd say...and this is just one man's humble opinion...but I'd say she did NOT "do it right." She lived, yes, but only because there weren't any cars coming the other way on the street and it didn't burn. Or something. Luck, maybe. Good fortune. Coincidence. Providence. Guardian angel, perhaps. (Oops! Better not bring that up!) I'd say...and again this is just one pompous pilot's humble opinion...but I'd say that as a minimum that woman needs some remedial training in: 1) altitudes to fly over congested areas, and 2) autorotation entries and touchdowns.

 

Just sayin'...

 

 

You sir, are an idiot. Have you ever had an engine failure? Do you think you could do better putting it down in the middle of an urban area? That may very well have been the best or only spot she could make it to, and thus had to put it down with some forward speed. When your engine goes quiet, you just have to do the best you can with what you have. I'd say she did fine.

[ridethisbike]

I still don't get how a blown entry can result in the long ground run. Unless NR meant the entry to the flare, which would then make sense, but I'm not sure if that's what he meant...

[gary-mike]

I agree that she did good since they both walked away. That said, isn't reviewing accident reports a way to learn from them? Discussions about how things might be done better are part of that.

[DS_HMMR]

Wondering if she modified her approach because of the light poles potentially hitting the disc, chose a gap, and ducked under but then was so close to the ground she went for a run-on. ?

 

 

[ridethisbike]

Wondering if she modified her approach because of the light poles potentially hitting the disc, chose a gap, and ducked under but then was so close to the ground she went for a run-on. ?

 

 

Which is precisely why I said what I did in response to NR originally. Without talking to the pilot and/or waiting for the accident report, there's no way for us to know. Maybe there were a set of power lines that crossed the road right there that, had she flared earlier, she may have hit. Thus requiring she either balloon up (HORRIBLE idea) or take a slightly harder landing and longer ground run than one would prefer.

[DS_HMMR]

 

Which is precisely why I said what I did in response to NR originally. Without talking to the pilot and/or waiting for the accident report, there's no way for us to know. Maybe there were a set of power lines that crossed the road right there that, had she flared earlier, she may have hit. Thus requiring she either balloon up (HORRIBLE idea) or take a slightly harder landing and longer ground run than one would prefer.

 

Right.

 

pondering the event is one thing, condemning the Pilot prematurely is quite another, especially given limited/no facts. But given NR's religious predilections, judging prematurely is not at all surprising, just very very amusing.

[500F]

NR, If you are not familiar with robbies why comment? I attended Robinson school years back and they taught the full downs with a fair amount of ground run, not 125 feet, but 30 or so and that was the way they wanted it. The R22 doesn't have enough inertia to burn up a lot trying to get rid of ground run. You can do it, but you have to be perfect. If you have the real estate use it, your lower back will thank you.

 

As other have said, any auto, (especially to a crowded city street) that you can walk or crawl away from is a successful one. Could it have better, sure, but I think any of us could only hope that we do as well in a situation as ugly as that.

[Spike]

Any landing you walk away from is a good one…..

 

Sure, saving the machine is expected, but in today’s softer-gentler culture, everyone’s a winner. Simply put, just being in the game is enough to get a trophy……

 

No amount of training can prepare your mind for the real deal. Practice autorotation’s and forced landings teach muscle memory and do little to prepare ones psyche. The reality is, once you realize the engine just quit, the “fight or flight” response kicks in and what happens after that becomes a matter of record. Hopefully, when it happens to you, you can recite the above first sentence…..

Edited May 20, 2013 by Spike

[Nearly Retired]

You know, some of yous (500C, DS-HMMR) can just kiss my rosy red ass. Seriously. Just kiss it. If either of you bozos think that this broad "did it right" with her 125 foot ground run that was only stopped by a parked car (God knows how long it would've skidded without that Mazda in the way), then you two don't deserve to wear the title "Helicopter Pilot." Which I doubt either of you are. Dear Lord!

 

Read the story, read her interview, watch the news reports, Google-map the area, then ask yourself what in God's name she was doing there? She says she was at 3,500' when it quit and she STILL f*cked up the auto? Oh yeah, big hero. Maybe they'll change the name of Honolulu International to hers. Good thing there weren't pedestrians trying to cross that street when she came screaming in there. She'd have to hope they heard the LOW ROTOR RPM horn blowing to warn them. Meeeeeeeeeeeeep!

It's one thing to be out dicking around by yourself in a machine that you own. But when we have paying passengers in the other seat, don't we owe them a certain duty of care? Shouldn't we make sure we have at least *one* good forced-landing area underneath us at all times? I mean, come on. And an active city street is *not* a "good forced-landing area," I'm sorry. She got lucky. Very, very lucky.

 

I stand by my post. She needs remedial training. Or she's lying about how high she was when it quit. Because if she was *really* at 3,500' when it quit...naaah, I just don't believe that.

[DS_HMMR]

You know, some of yous (500C, DS-HMMR) can just kiss my rosy red ass. Seriously. Just kiss it. If either of you bozos think that this broad "did it right" with her 125 foot ground run that was only stopped by a parked car (God knows how long it would've skidded without that Mazda in the way), then you two don't deserve to wear the title "Helicopter Pilot." Which I doubt either of you are. Dear Lord!

 

Read the story, read her interview, watch the news reports, Google-map the area, then ask yourself what in God's name she was doing there? She says she was at 3,500' when it quit and she STILL f*cked up the auto? Oh yeah, big hero. Maybe they'll change the name of Honolulu International to hers. Good thing there weren't pedestrians trying to cross that street when she came screaming in there. She'd have to hope they heard the LOW ROTOR RPM horn blowing to warn them. Meeeeeeeeeeeeep!

 

It's one thing to be out dicking around by yourself in a machine that you own. But when we have paying passengers in the other seat, don't we owe them a certain duty of care? Shouldn't we make sure we have at least *one* good forced-landing area underneath us at all times? I mean, come on. And an active city street is *not* a "good forced-landing area," I'm sorry. She got lucky. Very, very lucky.

 

I stand by my post. She needs remedial training. Or she's lying about how high she was when it quit. Because if she was *really* at 3,500' when it quit...naaah, I just don't believe that.

 

BHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

Ok, now I just feel bad. NR, I think we are beginning to get to the root of your problem(s). Your homoerotic remarks and personal descriptions of your "nether regions" are giving all of us a much clearer picture of what's ailing you.

 

But, DO go on, we are all very tolerant here. Let it all out big guy.......we're here for ya......

[Counterrotate]

You know, some of yous (500C, DS-HMMR) can just kiss my rosy red ass. Seriously. Just kiss it. If either of you bozos think that this broad "did it right" with her 125 foot ground run that was only stopped by a parked car (God knows how long it would've skidded without that Mazda in the way), then you two don't deserve to wear the title "Helicopter Pilot." Which I doubt either of you are. Dear Lord!

 

Read the story, read her interview, watch the news reports, Google-map the area, then ask yourself what in God's name she was doing there? She says she was at 3,500' when it quit and she STILL f*cked up the auto? Oh yeah, big hero. Maybe they'll change the name of Honolulu International to hers. Good thing there weren't pedestrians trying to cross that street when she came screaming in there. She'd have to hope they heard the LOW ROTOR RPM horn blowing to warn them. Meeeeeeeeeeeeep!

 

It's one thing to be out dicking around by yourself in a machine that you own. But when we have paying passengers in the other seat, don't we owe them a certain duty of care? Shouldn't we make sure we have at least *one* good forced-landing area underneath us at all times? I mean, come on. And an active city street is *not* a "good forced-landing area," I'm sorry. She got lucky. Very, very lucky.

 

I stand by my post. She needs remedial training. Or she's lying about how high she was when it quit. Because if she was *really* at 3,500' when it quit...naaah, I just don't believe that.

I'm sorry, what experience are you speaking from? Oh, that's right, "not much". Maybe with all of your back-country cherry drying experience in S-58's you have never had to fly over an urban environment? Lots of us have to do that on a daily basis, at altitudes much lower than 3.500 feet. When the engine quits, you takes your chances. I have seen many many accidents over the years that started with an engine failure and ended in the street of some some metropolis, and most of them ended much worse than this. Saying the pilot needs remedial training is just plain ignorant. She's no hero. She deserves no reward. But surviving something like that is it's own reward sometimes. I wouldn't give her a medal, but I wouldn't say she needs to do the safety course at Robinson over again either.

[rubidug]

More info posted today....I think Nearly Retarded should give her a little more credit...

 

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2013/130522mechanic-takes-responsibility-for-honolulu-emergency.html

[Spike]

I used to work with Brant and he is a stand-up guy. His post-accident actions are a perfect example of his level of integrity. I wish there were more like him in the industry….. And, before the critics sign in, anyone can make a mistake. It’s what you do after the mistake that determines your character….