Helicopter rough landing

Started by crewmaster1
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crewmaster1

crewmaster1

Nattitwo
15+ Year Member
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Recently a medical transport helicopter made a rough landing on University of Cincinnati's helipad with damage to the helicopter. This was NOT a University Aircare helicopter, it belonged to a private company (PHI). They had already dropped off the patient and were leaving for their home base when something (I think the wind) caused them to have a rough landing resulting in the the tail hitting the helipad metal fence/barrier leaving the tail hanging over the edge. It was not dangling over by any stretch (as many news reporters would describe it). But, the fire dept. did have to secure the helicopter on the pad. Today PHI had a huge crane come a lift it off the roof. Pretty cool to watch. Check out this video link:
http://www.fox19.com/Global/story.asp?S=7577658

Again, this was not a University of Cincinnati helicopter, our Aircare continues to operate with a crash free history!
 
crewmaster1 said:
Recently a medical transport helicopter made a rough landing on University of Cincinnati's helipad with damage to the helicopter. This was NOT a University Aircare helicopter, it belonged to a private company (PHI). They had already dropped off the patient and were leaving for their home base when something (I think the wind) caused them to have a rough landing resulting in the the tail hitting the helipad metal fence/barrier leaving the tail hanging over the edge. It was not dangling over by any stretch (as many news reporters would describe it). But, the fire dept. did have to secure the helicopter on the pad. Today PHI had a huge crane come a lift it off the roof. Pretty cool to watch. Check out this video link:
http://www.fox19.com/Global/story.asp?S=7577658

Again, this was not a University of Cincinnati helicopter, our Aircare continues to operate with a crash free history!
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Don't jinx it, especially since we should be flying this month per our chiefies. Go get safety checked monday.
 
these are the stories of why you won't catch me on one of these. 🙂
 
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One of my best friends from high school who studied aeronautical engineering loves to quote one of his professors: " A helicopter in comprised of 1 million precisely engineered parts, rotating at 1 million miles an hour, all trying to kill you."
 
hmm... I flew with PHI a few months ago. Guess you never know what to expect
 
Tiger26 said:
also why I'd cross off programs that require flying
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Like crewmaster said, this was a private company. Our program at Cinci has been in service for over 20 years with only one hard landing that occured during a refueling run (ie, no resident or patient was involved). Our pilots are all ex-military and are trained to fly under visual and instrument guidance. With aircare, they only fly under visual guidance rules. No extra risks are taken and at anytime, any person on the flight can choose to abort the mission should they feel unsafe. I can't speak for other programs, however.
 
Supposed to fly with PHI this month. I'll be checking the weather beforehand.
 
Dr. Will said:
Like crewmaster said, this was a private company. Our program at Cinci has been in service for over 20 years with only one hard landing that occured during a refueling run (ie, no resident or patient was involved). Our pilots are all ex-military and are trained to fly under visual and instrument guidance. With aircare, they only fly under visual guidance rules. No extra risks are taken and at anytime, any person on the flight can choose to abort the mission should they feel unsafe. I can't speak for other programs, however.
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Are you saying AirCare is immune from this type of mishap? That's hardly from the truth. AirCare's rotor wing service is still operated by Omniflight if I recall correctly. In essence, it's a private company providing the helicopter operations and a university medical center providing medical care.

Helicopters are inherently dangerous. Don't get me wrong, I love to fly in helicopters, but I also know when to recognize the dangers associated with rotor wing services.
 
Bring It On said:
has 5 million parts....so, do you not fly in an airplane??
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B17's during WWII would land with a whole tail section missing. Airliners have double sometimes triple redundancy. You lose one bolt on a copter and gravity slaps ye down.
 
I was worried I would restart this whole HEMS debate. Oops. I do believe it is dangerous and carries more risk than working in the ED, but I still think that amount of risk is worth the experience for a limited amount of time (residency). I think Aircare has a good past record which only says that we do things safely and do our best to limit our risk, but you are all correct that at anytime this can change. We all just hope that things continue to go well and without any incidents.
 
EdEmEr said:
B17's during WWII would land with a whole tail section missing. Airliners have double sometimes triple redundancy. You lose one bolt on a copter and gravity slaps ye down.
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I am not sure where you get your expertise in aircraft design, but as a former engineer and military helicopter crewmember - I can assure you that all dual turbine helicopters used by EMS have redundant electrical and hydraulic (as well as 2 engines)

As far as airframes in general( airliners, military. spacecraft) - I dont care how redundant your systems are, If the wrong single bolt fails - you can have a catastrophic failure
 
southerndoc said:
Are you saying AirCare is immune from this type of mishap? That's hardly from the truth. AirCare's rotor wing service is still operated by Omniflight if I recall correctly. In essence, it's a private company providing the helicopter operations and a university medical center providing medical care.
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I never said that we are "immune" from any mishap. Siht happens, and can at any moment. I was just providing info about our program, that has a great safety record.
 
this is why HEMS should never be a requirement but should absolutely be made available to people who want to fly and be involved. I just *personlly* don't want to ride in one.
 
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do you look like your pic? If you do, you are in the wrong profession...you should be in modeling....just curious.
 
Well, since that is me in the photo, yup, I'd say I look like that. its a selfpotrait I took about 18 mos ago. course I don't usually have that nice of lighting. and right now my hair is colored dark. 🙂 but thank you. but I am afraid since I am over 30, I am way off base for modelling. besides, working in the ER is so much more glam. 😀
 
I had a very hard/ crash landing in Afghanistan. I am now pursuing EM and worry that I might be a little nervous about flying again. The program I want to go to has a moth of lifeflight type flying in 2nd yr I think.
 
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