Man Killed by Whirling Helicopter Blades

[cyz0301]

I saw this article in the straits times,

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=268191&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/

(similar news report by different paper)

the man was killed by the whirling blades while he was walking away from the helicopter in normal procedure, the pilot should give the 'ok' signal for the passenger to walk across the radius of the spinning blades, he will make sure no pitch or cyclic inputs are apply

i have heard that the blades will flap up and down about 1-2 storeys (correct me if i am wrong) when cyclic inputs are made, this is invisible for our naked eyes. can be seen in the camera

in my opinion, the accident is due to pilot error, the pilot may have apply cyclic or pitch inputs without making sure the clearance under the rotor disk

[khpan2003]

wa... if the blades will flap up and down about 1-2 storeys when cyclic inputs are made... then there is a lot of pilot being kill by heli tail being chop of by the blade... (just joking )

[Brandon Chng]

it was not the blades being flapped...from what i read in chinese newspaper, the pilot did a rolling takeoff and pitched forward to gain speed but misjudged and hit the man.

if blades did flap 1-2storeys then the chinook by right cannot fly cos everybody would have been chopped to bits

[sookainian]

yap, is was on the newspaper, it say it was doing some 'take off' with abit foward flight i think. Then chop until the man.

Hmm i heard from some where that the chinook heli blades can flap down until half the hight of the heli

[Brandon Chng]

yap, is was on the newspaper, it say it was doing some 'take off' with abit foward flight i think. Then chop until the man.

Hmm i heard from some where that the chinook heli blades can flap down until half the hight of the heli

then how do the blades clear each other?

[sookainian]

then how do the blades clear each other?

dont ask me =X that is what i heard

[Brandon Chng]

no la, maybe when the blades are not turning the blade will droop down until you can reach it but in flight that won't happen, even in mild aerobatics

[AceViperX]

I think the chinook's rotors are coupled so they will never overlap. am I right?
But it still doesn't detract from the fact that if the rotor can flap half the heli's height, it will chop into the fuselage.

cyz0301, I think its more like flap 1-2 metres.....
And you stillll owe me a fuel pump.

[sookainian]

hmm will chop into the fuselage ? i didnt know that.

Hmm Cyz why u always owe people things

[mave]

for the chinook, there is procedure on mounting and unmounting from the heli.

It is always 45 degrees to the heli body. Never directly in front or aft.

[Brandon Chng]

i would like to know if there's any system on the chinook to raise the blades somewhat for starting when the rpm is really low and the blades are drooped by gravity...

[yC86]

yup, chinook rotors are mechanically coupled to prevent then from hitting each other. They will intermesh during flight..

when the blades are not turning, naturally it will droop due to the weight.. the chinook's front blades and super puma's blades droop so low that i can touch it when standing on the ground.

during flight, the blades don't flap down pass the rotor grips. the only blade angle noticeable during flight would be the coning of the blades. this coning angle can be more than 10ft.. but it will never flap down pass the rotor grip line.

he could have been killed when the pilot did a rolling take off or something.. applying cyclic as the blades spin.. the disc will tend to tilt to the applied side.

[yC86]

kinda ironic actually... cos the AS365 is supposed to be one of the safer helis as it has a fenestron tail, which minimises tail rotor accidents. one of the reasons why it's used for SAR and ferrying people in closed areas.

and yah, people have been known to walk into spinning tail rotor blades, ouch!

[puma]

Lets wait for the investigation results don’t speculate the cause.

Even the safest helicopter KILL. WHY?

Because human operates it and it is only HUMAN that will make mistake in this case LIFE is LOSS.

SAD

HUMAN ERROR

[AReality]

in my opinion, the accident is due to pilot error, the pilot may have apply cyclic or pitch inputs without making sure the clearance under the rotor disk

Apparently, the pilot is not in the heli when it happened. He was outside, securing a door.

The blades were spinning quite slowly, thus drooping, but fast enough to kill.

He ran towards the heli, to check if the door is secured, then walked back, but was struck by the blades.


.