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To: NautiNurse
One rescue chopper crashed late today.

FOX just clarified this...it was a private helicopter company, not military. Nonetheless, only minor injuries.

17 posted on 09/04/2005 6:20:51 PM PDT by tsmith130
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To: tsmith130

I know this is late but I was out of the house when I saw that helicopter crash and couldn't post.

Close to the area where the looter/Guard firefight took place earlier, but that's not conclusive by itself.

The failure took place as follows:

1. The chopper set down or was forced to set down right where it lies.

2. One of the 2 main landing gear landed on what appears to be a packed earth path, the other (left side) missed the path and dug a fair hole in soft earth and grass.

3. From the air, ground always looks flatter than it really is, but either the settling left main gear or the sloping terrain caused the main rotors to come in contact with the ground.

4. The rotor tips, spinning clockwise when viewed from above, each knocked a divot loose from the turf and threw the dirt out onto the nearby road.

5. The spaces between each rotor tip divot indicates that the lean or rollover was a quick one. A slowly leaning rotor disk would have cut a trench, not individual divots.

6. The counter torque as the rotor system came apart would tend to twist the main fuselage in counter-clockwise direction, when viewed from above, and this force may have snapped the tail structure.

7. If other forces caused the tail structure to fold up like we see, they could be related to whatever events led to a possible forced landing.

8. In a simple setdown/rollover scenario, the tail rotor would probably not impact the ground or other obstruction, but the tail rotors have obviously impacted something, as they are bent, with some blades being broken off.

9. I don't believe the tail rotor failed in flight. When that happens the entire airframe is twisting violently as it touches down, and there is no evidence of it having disturbed the surrounding ground in that manner.

10. There is more to this crash than meets the eye, because there is no visible reason for the damage to the tail rotor blades.


1,190 posted on 09/05/2005 10:37:32 AM PDT by jeffers
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