Plane crashes into helicopter near Aylesbury

I know it's unlikely but I hope no one died :(.


Erm, edited as the ":D" made me look like a dick without the quoted part. Thanks mods :D.

(I miss the old way of showing when something had been deleted...)
 
Last edited:
I live near a small airfield, there are always small aircraft and helicopters buzzing around so I'm surprised there aren't more collisions TBH.
 
Dis86 said:
It boggles the mind a bit - has to be major incompetence on someones behalf or mechanical failure. Sadly likely to be deaths.
Click to expand...

Not every aircraft up in the skies is fitted with a device to show it's location so when flying in Class G airspace at times a pilots look out is all he has to prevent a mid air. I've come across paragliders at 4k agl near my gliding club's airfield. It's drummed into a glider pilot from the start how important look out is. A lot of gliders use a device called a FLARM these days which tracks a GPS position and if you get within a certain range of another aircraft fitted with a FLARM you get a warning sound / light / direction indication. It's not compulsory to have one of these devices though.

Quite lucky that in a glider, at least the one I fly, all round visibility is pretty good. I'd imagine in some power aircraft and helicopters that carrying out a decent look out isn't as easy.

Let's hope all are OK.
 
South Central Ambulance Service reporting "a number of casualties at the scene", photographs now surfacing showing the aeroplane in pieces in woodland :(

Wycombe airpark have confirmed both aircraft were from the airfield.
 
Just a couple of miles down the road from work. Did wonder where all the fire engines were going earlier.
 
Very sad.

To clarify, in uncontrolled airspace it is the pilots responsibility to maintain visual separation from together aircraft, not ATCs (though often they do help). Light aircraft and helicopters are unlikely to carry any form of TCAS or traffic monitoring gizmos in their cockpits.

Easy to say "how didn't they see each other!", but I assure you it's very difficult seeing each other in the air sometimes, especially if the heli was above the Cessna being blanked by its wing. Helicopters are also buggers to see from a distance due to their size. Also closing speeds, even with small aircraft, can be remarkably hight, 250mph+ easily.

Sad to see this happen, especially as it looks like a training schools aircraft (with respect I will not name the school), so likely an instructor and student.

A sad day for aviation.
 
Dis86 said:
It boggles the mind a bit - has to be major incompetence on someones behalf or mechanical failure. Sadly likely to be deaths.
Click to expand...

Uther said:
I live near a small airfield, there are always small aircraft and helicopters buzzing around so I'm surprised there aren't more collisions TBH.
Click to expand...

It's a bit more organised than it seems on the ground, but all that it takes is a lapse in situational awareness and you might miss some traffic information (either being given directly or indirectly), getting distracted in the cockpit and not keeping a good lookout for a few minutes (or even seconds) or not being able to see through a blind spot. Would leave it up to the experts to determine cause.

Very sad to hear this. Not a great week for aviation. We had a GA crash yesterday at my home aerodrome also.
 
I got a call about this earlier today. It always makes my stomach turn.

One day we will be in a position to reduce the risk of such events to a fraction of what it is today. The world of aviation, particularly general aviation, and particularly British general aviation, is very slow to react to emerging technologies which could provide a massive benefit.
 
Scuzi said:
I got a call about this earlier today. It always makes my stomach turn.

One day we will be in a position to reduce the risk of such events to a fraction of what it is today. The world of aviation, particularly general aviation, and particularly British general aviation, is very slow to react to emerging technologies which could provide a massive benefit.
Click to expand...

Indeed, there is plenty of tech available which in itself isn't expensive and could be fitted to any aircraft, the delay and cost comes with approval for aviation use, understandably they have to ensure it doesn't cause any issues.
 
SupraWez said:
Indeed, there is plenty of tech available which in itself isn't expensive and could be fitted to any aircraft, the delay and cost comes with approval for aviation use, understandably they have to ensure it doesn't cause any issues.
Click to expand...
Most aircraft have the ability to emit ADS-B, albeit from an uncertified GPS source, however this has been proven to be very accurate. Regulations need to enable the use of uncertified GPS based ADS-B emissions to enahance the situation awareness of pilots, particularly GA traffic in Class G. We have kit that will do it but the regulators need to take a pragmatic view.
 
Dis86 said:
It boggles the mind a bit - has to be major incompetence on someones behalf or mechanical failure. Sadly likely to be deaths.
Click to expand...
Watch a few eps of Aircrash Investigation (aviation pros will probably cringe at me here :p). A few eps have featured collisions involving small aircraft.

You do get the impression that for small, non-commercial aircraft there exist a lot fewer safety nets. Collisions seem to mostly happen when one aircraft climbs or descends into another, or are approaching each other from >90 degrees (so their ability to spot each other by eye is pretty much nil).

Heck, just think how easy it is to not spot another car in your mirror and cause an accident. And you're only dealing with movement in two axis there! Small planes don't seem to have all the warning systems, guidance systems, TCAS etc that commercial planes are forced to have. At least that's the impression I got :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom