Colin McRae court ruling on his fatal crash

ShakenNstirred · 6 Sep 2011 at 15:50

after over 4 years they finally ruled in court that colin was a blame for the avoidable crash.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-st...dable-helicopter-crash-death-115875-23400263/

Kerming · 7 Sep 2011 at 02:01

what!!!!!!!

let the legend rest in piece!!!!!

mattyg · 7 Sep 2011 at 02:27

What about the 3 people he killed. Do their families not deserve answers.

Not knocking him as Colin McRae rally driver. But by the findings he was negligent with 3 other peoples lives.

arknor · 7 Sep 2011 at 08:29

why shouldnt the crash be investigated just like any other to find the reasons ?

just because he was famous doesnt mean he should get treated differently to anyone else

GravyMonster · 7 Sep 2011 at 08:53

I think we pretty much all knew this anyway. It's just a shame some innocent lives had to be lost too

FrankJH · 7 Sep 2011 at 09:38

No disrespect to those others that died, but Im not sure anyone could know exactly how good a pilot he was in the area around his own home.

In unfamiliar surroundings , well thats something entirely different - but he had owned the helicopter for a few years and he was known to be a capable pilot

On the other hand it would be completely wrong to blame anyone else for the crash be it the mechanic or anyone else. To rely on home video footage to make such strong statements (that CMcR was at fault, rather than just it being "accidental") is wrong imo

(and to knit pick about the validity of his pilot's licence when it was only out of date, rather than not having one at all - shows more about the Sherriff than it does about CMcR imo, without wishing to excuse him either)

mattyg · 7 Sep 2011 at 10:32

FrankJH said:
No disrespect to those others that died, but Im not sure anyone could know exactly how good a pilot he was in the area around his own home.

In unfamiliar surroundings , well thats something entirely different - but he had owned the helicopter for a few years and he was known to be a capable pilot

On the other hand it would be completely wrong to blame anyone else for the crash be it the mechanic or anyone else. To rely on home video footage to make such strong statements (that CMcR was at fault, rather than just it being "accidental") is wrong imo

(and to knit pick about the validity of his pilot's licence when it was only out of date, rather than not having one at all - shows more about the Sherriff than it does about CMcR imo, without wishing to excuse him either)

In all fairness he still hit the ground. Without mechanical failure. He made a mistake, and it cost the lives of 3 innocent people.

Skeeter · 7 Sep 2011 at 10:49

arknor said:
just because he was famous doesnt mean he should get treated differently to anyone else

Works both ways really. The only reason this is in the news is because he was famous. If he was being treated the same as every other private light aircraft accident, you wouldn't know anything about it.

Yes, the investigation needs to happen, but the public detailing of the outcome, maybe not.

FrankJH · 7 Sep 2011 at 19:00

mattyg said:
In all fairness he still hit the ground. Without mechanical failure. He made a mistake, and it cost the lives of 3 innocent people.

and there are numerous lethal crashes on the roads where the driver couldnt have been expected to do anything different

Does anyone know / can anyone prove he hadnt done exactly the same the week / month / year before .......No , not at all - it was a tragic accident, but nothing more

Skeeter said:
Works both ways really. The only reason this is in the news is because he was famous. If he was being treated the same as every other private light aircraft accident, you wouldn't know anything about it.

Yes, the investigation needs to happen, but the public detailing of the outcome, maybe not.

Very good point also

mattyg · 7 Sep 2011 at 19:08

FrankJH said:
and there are numerous lethal crashes on the roads where the driver couldnt have been expected to do anything different

Does anyone know / can anyone prove he hadnt done exactly the same the week / month / year before .......No , not at all - it was a tragic accident, but nothing more

Very good point also

The driver of ONE of the cars involved could have done something.

If he had flown like he had been with an instuctor having a lesson then would the accident have happened.

Deleted member 66701 · 7 Sep 2011 at 21:08

mattyg said:
The driver of ONE of the cars involved could have done something.

If he had flown like he had been with an instuctor having a lesson then would the accident have happened.

No, he was being a Richard, end of.

We've all done it, we'll all do it again. Sometimes though you don't get away with it.

Jonny ///M · 8 Sep 2011 at 00:10

**** happens and thats it really. He could have done it a thousand times before and the others that died could have been fine with it but they are all dead now.

Jim moodie took my boss out in his helicopter and was doing all sorts of manouvers...people who drive rally cars or race super bikes just takes thing that bit further than most sane people it seems.

dannyjo22 · 8 Sep 2011 at 01:57

Not only that he didn't have a valid license, I'm sure if this happened with another pilot that killed people and it tuned out he was no longer rated you would hear about it.

FrankJH · 8 Sep 2011 at 03:20

double post - please delete

FrankJH · 8 Sep 2011 at 03:29

dannyjo22 said:
Not only that he didn't have a valid license, I'm sure if this happened with another pilot that killed people and it tuned out he was no longer rated you would hear about it.

it was out of date - bad enough maybe , but not exactly like he never held a licence in the first place for the helicopter (which is imo what some parts of the article suggest)

mattyg said:
The driver of ONE of the cars involved could have done something.

I never mentioned a 2nd driver being involved

Singular vehicular accidents happen all the time, its just the nature of life unfortunately.

mattyg said:
If he had flown like he had been with an instuctor having a lesson then would the accident have happened.

1) There is no proof that CMcR hadnt done the same manouvres 100's of times before with no issue (and the fact he actually had his own helicopter is an indicator he probably had)

2) There is also no proof that any other pilot wouldnt have crashed in exactly the same circumstances on that day.

I totally understand that some tricks /stunts were "beyond guidelines" but to suggest it doesnt happen with other private pilots going low over rooftops etc is complete and utter bs

Jonny ///M said:
people who drive rally cars or race super bikes just takes thing that bit further than most sane people it seems.

but this also means they have a better idea of how vehicles work, and respective loads etc (especially a vehicle that is your own). Their reactions are generally quicker than most other people's (otherwise they wouldnt be that well known for these particular sports)

Maybe its selective journallism, but some of the quotes seem to want to go overboard just for the sake of it

arknor · 8 Sep 2011 at 10:57

1) There is no proof that CMcR hadnt done the same manouvres 100's of times before with no issue (and the fact he actually had his own helicopter is an indicator he probably had)

i could drive on an expired driving license , i could drive down my local road at 100mph a hundred times without hitting anyone.

on the 101 time i could plow head on into another car killing myself and 3 passengers.

just because ive done it 100 times doesnt mean i was in the right.. how you can attempt to defend dangerous flying is beyond me..

he was at fault 3 people died just the same as if i was bombing around in a car at 100mph and killed 3 people it would be my fault end off

dannyjo22 · 8 Sep 2011 at 13:40

FrankJH said:
it was out of date - bad enough maybe , but not exactly like he never held a licence in the first place for the helicopter (which is imo what some parts of the article suggest)

It's pretty much irrelevant. If I didn't have a drivers licence but previously held one and mowed down your family I'm sure you wouldn't agree that having previously held one was good enough

I have no idea why the enquiry took so look he was clealry in breach of the ANO as soon as he took to the air.

You have to renew it for good reason to prove medical fitness at experience with type.

That he was flying like a **** must be hard for all the families involved to come to terms with. Such a shame for them all and such a sad way for one of the most exciting drivers I've ever seen end their days

Kenai · 8 Sep 2011 at 13:48

dannyjo22 said:
It's pretty much irrelevant. If I didn't have a drivers licence but previously held one and mowed down your family I'm sure you wouldn't agree that having previously held one was good enough

It is a very different circumstance to the picture the media seem keen to imply though, ie. he just bought a helicopter and winged it with no training or anything.

There is a difference between someone with an expired bit of paper telling them they can do something than someone who never even goes through the process of getting that piece of paper at all.

dannyjo22 · 8 Sep 2011 at 15:55

To be honest the papers I have read the fact he had no current type rating or Licence has been a small part of the stories compared to his alledged dangerous flying.

I've seen no suggestion or hinting that he was winging it or had no training just that he had no current rating because he let it lapse.

Again if I was to go into motors and say I had an accident and didn't renew my licence I'm sure I would get loads of sympathy. Or for instance If I let my engineering licence lapse and carried on working on a type and caused an accident I'm sure I would get sympathy for previously holding this 'bit of paper'.

The fact is without it he shouldn't have been flying and those people would still all be alive.

FrankJH · 8 Sep 2011 at 18:13

dannyjo22 said:
The fact is without it he shouldn't have been flying and those people would still all be alive.

your logic has failed completely Im afraid

1) There has been no suggestion that he wasnt healthy enough to fly

2) Even if he had a fully upto date licence, that wouldnt have stopped the accident from happening

(Im ignoring your example because its completely over the top, and totally different mowing down bystanders in comparison to people who had agreed to be passangers - and according to reports were enjoying the way they were being flown)

3) These were friends of the family - it would be interesting to know if any / all had flown with him before (nothing to suggest either way)

arknor said:
i could drive on an expired driving license , i could drive down my local road at 100mph a hundred times without hitting anyone.

on the 101 time i could plow head on into another car killing myself and 3 passengers.

just because ive done it 100 times doesnt mean i was in the right.. how you can attempt to defend dangerous flying is beyond me..

he was at fault 3 people died just the same as if i was bombing around in a car at 100mph and killed 3 people it would be my fault end off

yur a nobody on a forum - not a highly trained individual with lightning reactions (as anyone at the top of WRC would have to have)

Maybe before attacking me you should read ALL of my posts rather than just one, Ive clearly stated it was a TRAGIC accident, but either the sherriff or the media want to be very selective in the reporting of it.

You or anyone else (here) cant state conclusively that the cause of the crash wouldnt have happened anyway

Colin McRae court ruling on his fatal crash

Deleted member 66701

Deleted member 66701