Posted on 06/19/2007 4:21:26 PM PDT by naturalman1975
BLACK Hawk 221 was hovering only metres above the deck of HMAS Kanimbla, a few seconds from landing, when it became clear something was wrong.
* Video: Black Hawk crash
The helicopter's engines began screaming, its rotors seemed to droop, and the pilots were heard to swear.
"It was either 'Oh shit' or 'Oh f..k, then I heard them start talking to each other really quickly and I could tell they were trying to sort it out," one of the Black Hawk's crew yesterday told the board of inquiry into last November's crash off Fiji, which claimed the lives of two Australian soldiers, pilot Captain Mark Bingley and Special Air Service Trooper Joshua Porter.
The crew member, codenamed Trooper Charlie, told the hearing the flight had been without incident but moments before the Black Hawk was to land there were signs the aircraft was in trouble. "When I looked out, I noticed that the rotors ... weren't as high as they usually were. They were drooping down, almost level or maybe below me," said Trooper Charlie, who was seated at the rear left door of the six-tonne helicopter.
"White puffs of mist were coming off the rotors ... it felt like the rotors were spinning and not grabbing on to anything."
The chopper then hit the deck of the ship with a violent thud, losing its tailshaft in the process, before plunging into the ocean.
Having not been fitted with flotation devices, the Black Hawk began to sink immediately, forcing the 10 soldiers on board to scramble for their lives.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Ouch.
And THAT was survivable?
Damn.
I think I’ll pass on that. I hate seeing something where I know somebody dies.
Sounds like a mechanical or hydraulic failure in the rotor head caused the blades to lose pitch, the angle at which they bite into the air - no lift, less blade drag=higher rotation speed, no directional control, etc.
I understand and concur. Too bad about the crew but helicopters are that way.
I call pilot error. There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots. When you're a helicopter (or any kind of) pilot you're supposed to fly as if anything or everything could go wrong at any moment. This guy was hot-dogging it, thinking he could pull collective at the last minute and for some reason fell through. Helicopter hydraulics are double or triple redundant, BTW. I just showed the video to my Father, who spent 15 years flying U.S. Army helicopters, and his response was "kind of stupid".
Not qualified to comment but that makes sense to me. I don't why he would come in that hot unless there was a compelling reason to do so.
btw, speaking of choppers, check this out.
Well, here's a Lt. Col. flying(!) a BUF.
With all those radars in the video, I wonder if something similar has happened here.
Wow! That is amazing!
Is that the crash at Fairchild AFB about 13 years ago?
Oh man, that's amazing! Thanks for that link.
I have no where NEAR the sack required for that job!
“It’s called settling with power . . .”
These guys were coming in horizontally.
Sheared transmission input shafts or gears.... when the engines start to scream, it is because they no longer are under a load or connected to the main transmission.
I know I once stood over a AH-1J cobra that had rolled over on landing and sheared the engine drive shafts, there is no sound like it especially when you know that if you don’t shut them down then and there everything is going to come apart.
From the looks of things it happened just as the Blackhawk approached possibly as it flared just prior to landing, (nose up tail down to brake the approach speed) after the engines went to max RPM’s because they were no longer connected to the main Transmission the pilot dove for the deck in an attempt to land.
This is why the aircraft hit the deck nose down, he didn’t have the room, time or the altitude to auto rotate safely down and tried to pancake it on to the deck.
May they rest in peace.
Knee jerk conclusion.
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