Bell 206 Goes Down

Retired W4

Retired W4

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I believe it was a 206 Long Ranger by the number of ***** (Souls on Board). Having logged many hours in the military version, the OH-58, and I can attest that it is a good machine, but as with any helicopter the pilot must be attuned to every little thing the machine is telling you. I will not speculate, but the tail boom departed the aircraft, the main rotor turned into a large frisbee and the fuselage took on the aerodynamic characteristics of a brick. I've lost several friends who cashed in their chips while piloting an OH-58. I've come close a few times. The 58 is a little quirky and you must know the envelope and not get outside it. God rest the souls of the passengers and the pilot.
 
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Mercy on their souls...but helicopter's have always been an un-natural flying machine requiring great skill and concentration to control...but when parts depart the aircraft at altitude on a helicopter there is not any room for saving grace.
 
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As a veteran survivor of many helicopter flights to offshore drilling rigs, I am happy I no longer have to do that. Never had any life threatening incidents, but I always had a lot of apprehension.
 
A terrible situation regardless of the cause. May their souls rest in piece.

I saw the video and wasn't sure what to think either. As stated, it was like the aircraft started breaking up.
 
I've only flown 3 times in a Hughes 500. Wouldn't want to do it every day. So sad, the flight was a birthday gift to one of the kids. "A major malfunction." RIP.
 
OH-58s were the standard FLIR platform when we did drug interdiction flights on the NM/RoM border in the 90s. We had Guard pilots from Charlie Company, 3-140th Aviation who were really pleased to have a real-time mission set. Those birds were not fast, but were stable, really useful machines. Smooth, smooth, smooth over the desert!

A JetRanger (Bell 206A) would have some years and hours on it.
 
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The best description of a helicopter I have ever heard is "Ten thousand pieces all trying desperately to get away from each other". No humor intended at all! Apparently this aircraft had sufficient flight cycles for this to come true, unfortunately.:(:(
 
I was assigned to be an observer in a Huey (16th MP Gp) when I was at Bragg in '75 and I traded that assignment to another MP. I had seen too many helicopter crews show up on foot at the gate (ADA Battery in ROK) after making an emergency landing near some rice paddy to want to ride in one if I had a choice. It wasn't the aviators I didn't trust, the Army just seemed to skimp on maintenance in general.
 
I'm happy for all of you who survived your helo flights 50+ years ago.
I feel for the loss of a young, good looking family who lost their lives on a pleasure trip. I'm sure there will be much hoopla regarding executive and sightseeing use of helicopters upcoming but doubt anything will really change.
 
The reports state the 36 year old pilot served in the military. With only 788 hours of flight time I doubt he was a military pilot. Military pilots receive ~205 hrs. just in flight school. As mentioned by LVSteve, the mechanic and TI (technical inspector) who signed of on that ship will be under scrutiny as will the company's SOP. Just because a helicopter is 21 years old it's not necessarily unsafe. Just look at Marine One that the president rides in. Now those (they have more than one) are OLD.
 
S-W4EVER said:
I was assigned to be an observer in a Huey (16th MP Gp) when I was at Bragg in '75 and I traded that assignment to another MP. I had seen too many helicopter crews show up on foot at the gate (ADA Battery in ROK) after making an emergency landing near some rice paddy to want to ride in one if I had a choice. It wasn't the aviators I didn't trust, the Army just seemed to skimp on maintenance in general.
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.Gov business transportation to a number of sites in the Sulu Archipelago, Philippines, was contracted to the 'Evergreen Corporation,' they used Bell 214s, civilian Hueys with comfy seats. They had 4 birds at Zamboanga City; I never saw more than two of the 4 airworthy at the same time. In Baghdad, State used milspec Hueys (with the canvas seats and confidence inspiring seat belt hooks) to do the many daily milk runs from the BDSC (across the Baghdad Intl Airport runways) to the new Embassy. Even in '18/'19 ground transpro was verboten.
 
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ColbyBruce said:
I thought the V-Tail Bonanza was nicknamed "Doctor Killer"? In the mid 1970's a couple of doctors flew a Bonanza straight into the ground on our hunting lease in Monroe county Georgia. As it was standing on its nose amongst pine trees, it was undetectable from the air. Tabernacle Baptist Church in Macon owned a camp adjacent to our lease and it was occupied that night, those men heard the crash. The church folk were able to steer rescuers to the general area but a pulpwood crew located the wreckage. Redlevel doesn't live very far from there.
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The split tail devil (Bonanza) gets the bad publicity as the killer but I think of it as a class of A/C, like the Mooney.

But Colby, you are in the wrong thread!! :eek: This one is about the helicopter crash. :D
 
He lost the main rotor ,possibly a mast bump …..possible (?)…but doubt it..… also read that the tail boom separated in which case that could cause a strike to the main rotor…..all speculation right now. The NTSB/FAA will conduct a thorough investigation and determine the causative factors.
 
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It's difficult to get a Bell 206, or a UH-1 for that matter, into mast bumping with normal rotor speed, mainly an extreme yawing moment at cruise airspeed At about 10 bumps per second it doesn't take long for the mast to break. I saw it happen to a friend of mine while we were training at Ft. Rucker. All 4 on board were killed on impact. Freak accident that would take too long to describe. The mast broke right below the hub. In the case of the 206, the mast was in tact with the transmission still attached. Not caused by mast bumping in my opinion.
 
SMSgt said:
Someone mentioned bird strike avoidance may have caused a mast strike, as a possibility.
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Mast bumping can also be cause when you unload the rotor (zero or negative G's) and then a large cyclic input. Semi rigid systems like these older two bladed Bells must have positive G's for safe operation. I did not see that type of maneuver in the available videos.

Making a very hard turn loads the rotor even more, making mast bumping even less likely to occur
 
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biku324 said:
.Gov business transportation to a number of sites in the Sulu Archipelago, Philippines, was contracted to the 'Evergreen Corporation,' they used Bell 214s, civilian Hueys with comfy seats. They had 4 birds at Zamboanga City; I never saw more than two of the 4 airworthy at the same time. In Baghdad, State used milspec Hueys (with the canvas seats and confidence inspiring seat belt hooks) to do the many daily milk runs from the BDSC (across the Baghdad Intl Airport runways) to the new Embassy. Even in '18/'19 ground transpro was verboten.
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When my oldest daughter was in Iraq she flew (as a passenger) in a Blackhawk over Baghdad. The pilots were jinking back and forth and her Sergeant was kinda rattled but my daughter (who had riden with me several times on the job) loved every second of it. The pilots had a sign over the windshield that said "Fly It Like You Stole It".

I never met an Army Aviator (WO or Crew Chief) I didn't like. (Ironically my cousin's son retired as a CW4 Dust-Off pilot a couple years ago.)
 
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