Helicopter ditches in North Sea (Ditching Aug23 2013) - Public Inquiry
- Thread starter slambo69
- Start date
Caporegime
Was in Stavanger up until today and talking to the guys over there they're really not bothered about flying out on the super pumas!
Don
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-54116035
Going through the public enquiry at the moment, sad to hear that a 5th person ended up committing suicide as a result of PTSD afterwards.
Going through the public enquiry at the moment, sad to hear that a 5th person ended up committing suicide as a result of PTSD afterwards.
I work in the north sea and I didn't realise it was pilot error, I always thought it was a fault with the chopper maintenance. Is this a case of them finding someone to pass the blame onto or can someone else who has more knowledge on flying a helicopter explain what the pilots did wrong?
I agree, it's really sad to hear that 28yo lad killed himself on the back of this.
I agree, it's really sad to hear that 28yo lad killed himself on the back of this.
Don
The pilots came in too slow to land, weren’t monitoring instruments and didn’t pick up that the aircraft was losing altitude too quick till it was way too late.
I read that part but I'm still unsure as to what not monitoring instruments and coming in too slow would do to the aircraft?
According to one of the survivors the the helicopter catastrophically failed mid air:
"And then Sharp heard "a whoosh, and a crack like someone cracking a bone. And the chopper turned on its side, in the air." Nugent heard the bang, too: "An almighty bang, metal on metal, above our heads. It was loud. And I was just, 'What the…?' And then there was this twisting of the fuselage, left to right, very rapid, very violent, very sudden, and I thought, oh no, there's something wrong. I looked at the others and there was shock and horror on their faces. I thought, no, we can't be crashing. You don't want to believe it."
That was taken from this guardian article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ter-crash-survivors-britains-toughest-commute
Don
Both pilots survived.
Edit: Possibly conflating it with the other crash with the gearbox failure?
Don
If helicopters move to slow they create they're own vortex with the rotors causing them to suffer reduced lift, because the pilots didn't realise this the helicopter basically stalled and plummetted to the sea.
Ah, possibly looking back.
Always wondered why they don't install an inflatable device on the top of the helicopter as well to help prevent it being upturned?so it would kind of rest sideways at worst.
Caporegime
The blades hitting the water at the point of impact help flip it over, no amount of flotation up top is going to help you.
Ditching at sea was my worst fear when going offshore, the training will help you get out of the helicopter but if your leg or arm is bust / trapped or you get knocked unconscious then its time to say goodnight.
Caporegime
Or if like me you got stuck next to the fattest lump of a man ever and the crew ignored procedure by having him next to the window that he couldn't physically fit out of...
That still happens regularly.
Realistically, unless it's a controlled ditch the chances of getting out are slim anyway, as depressing as that is.
The pilots were using the autopilot to fly the approach but didn't set it up very well. Using it to control heading and vertical speed meant that the handling pilot had to use the collective to control speed when in most helicopters/most fliight regimes the cyclic (stick) controls attitude and thus speed. As they tried to see something at the final stages of the approach the speed washed off due to not being correctly monitored and combined with an increasing rate of descent they ended up running out of energy and not being able to stop the helicopter before it hit the sea and rolled over. Nothing wrong with the ac as it hit the sea.
Soldato
I did Dunker training a few times and it always struck me in the same way as the "Nuclear bomb" drills we did - unless absolutely everything goes perfectly then you will be lucky to survive. All it takes is one single break in the chain and your chance of making it out that helicopter are reduced to almost zero, so the training, whilst effective for a "perfect" crash, always felt more like "well, we've trained you so you should now feel more confident about surviving a crash, but you probably won't, good luck!" 
Sums it up pretty well.I did Dunker training a few times and it always struck me in the same way as the "Nuclear bomb" drills we did - unless absolutely everything goes perfectly then you will be lucky to survive. All it takes is one single break in the chain and your chance of making it out that helicopter are reduced to almost zero, so the training, whilst effective for a "perfect" crash, always felt more like "well, we've trained you so you should now feel more confident about surviving a crash, but you probably won't, good luck!"
I remember the first time we tried to do an inverted escape on HUET and the person sat to my right side completely lost their bearings and ended up smacking me in the face and ripping the breather out of my mouth
still one of the more "fun" training courses for the industry though!
Caporegime
Sums it up pretty well.
I remember the first time we tried to do an inverted escape on HUET and the person sat to my right side completely lost their bearings and ended up smacking me in the face and ripping the breather out of my mouth
Always fun watching people swim in the wrong direction after being inverted.
TBH the first time i did it my suit had basically filled the legs with water so swimming up was no really a fast option
