Bladeslapper

All survived thankfully

http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia ... spartandhp

"The cause of the crash is not yet unknown, and an investigation will begin later today. "

Journalism at it's finest...

I'd best run out & swap my ELT for a suitcase!

I heard it was vortex ring

Really, where did you hear that?

Nah, gotta be LTE!!

Gravity, iv got my money on gravity.
Guess we will know once it becomes UNknowen.

According to the dark side it was a flame out (probably hovering downwind...known jetranger issue), then an auto into the water. Of course, we don't actually know, but that makes sense, particularly as they were on a fishing trip and probably scoping out the "good spots".

I always fly with ELT and Satphone.

Obviously these chaps don't.

Glad they are OK. And really glad it wasn't me.

Flameout hovering downwind, known jetranger issue..

I cant see your face but surely your taking the piss,

And im not calling you shirley..

Flame out in a trusty ole JetBanger due to hovering down wind .......28years in this game with over 5,K hours in JetBoxes & have never ever heard of it????? Must've be flying under a proverbial rock all this time but ready to learn sumting new

I have heard of there being a problem when flying rearwards at 20kts or faster in the JR!!! Then you may cause flame out. I haven't found it in the manuals, or if it is an old pilots tale, or whatever. (edit: not saying that i believe it!!! just that i had heard it.)

Pretty keen to be taking a JR that fast backwards anyway... not my idea of fun!

probably hovering downwind...known jetranger issue

KNOWN????

To whom??

I probably spent more of my 8K B206 hrs downwind than into wind, and never even had a pop or surge or nuffink. Sounds like horsefeathers to me.

Found this link on another site and no mention of the now infamous "downwind flameout" . Machine looks to have had a good hit though, lucky boys.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/two-men-rescued-after-12hour-hunt-for-missing-helicopter-20170318-gv199k.html

There was a personal locator beacon on the aircraft, but they could not get to it after the crash.

arrrj wrote:it was a flame out (probably hovering downwind...known jetranger issue)

Thanks for the laugh, but where do I send you the invoice for a replacement laptop after spitting my coffee all over it when I read your post?

rotors99 wrote:Flame out in a trusty ole JetBanger due to hovering down wind .......28years in this game with over 5,K hours in JetBoxes & have never ever heard of it????? Must've be flying under a proverbial rock all this time but ready to learn sumting new

Same here,guess we both been under same rock.

Ouch.

Easy boys.

Flame out downwind hover has happened to two mates of mine - one with something like 20k hours, both told me that they should have known better.

I shall retreat back under my own rock.

Further...I doubt that my mates imagined what happened to them, and just like I share my bad stories with my friends, they shared with me. The quick (and violent) rejection of my comments above caused me to check the sanity of my mates. A quick search on the internet has many stories like this one.

On Sept. 14, 2002, near Rochester, Mass., the pilot of a Bell OH-58AT, converted to civilian use by Garlick Helicopters, made numerous successful lifts into the wind with loads of cranberries before moving on to a new bog. On the first lift there, the pilot hovered the helicopter about 12 ft. above the ground with a left quartering tailwind while the ground crew secured a 900-lb. cargo basket to a 15-ft. sling load line. Once the load was secured, the pilot maneuvered the helicopter forward, dragging the cargo basket. There was a loud pop sound, and a foot-long jet of flame fired from the left exhaust pipe. The pilot jettisoned the load and the helicopter pitched up. At that point, the main rotor blades severed the tail boom, and the main rotor assembly separated from the helicopter. The helicopter crashed to the ground and rolled onto its left side. The pilot, who had 4,000 hr. in the OH-58, was killed. There were no obstructions that would have impeded him from departing into the wind. The NTSB determined the probable cause of the accident included the pilot's improper decision to attempt a takeoff with a quartering tailwind, which resulted in an engine compressor stall.

So, I guess we all learn something, every day.

I'm not a LAME, but my logic cannot see how a downwind hover would cause a flameout?? I'm not precious, so happy to be corrected.

My logic says that the intake does not require it to be "rammed" into the turbine and as air is all around us, whether we are hovering downwind or not, it should not flameout as the engine will "suck" in enough air??

I can understand there is risk of overheating due to lack of airflow over cooling components and aerodynamic issues (LTE, VRS), but I can't join the dots to a flameout.

But as I said, happy to be corrected and educated.

I think you mean ingesting exhaust gases and it is a known issue for turbine helicopters in general, though more in the context of compressor stalls, rather than flame out as such.

As for it being a likely cause of accident, stranger things have happened but I'd favour that other old over flogged horse, LTE as a much more substantial hazard.

On this accident in particular, who knows, but I'm glad they got out ok. I'm sure they tore the backside out of their trousers just as badly as they tore up the bum of the machine though, I've never seen a fuel bladder exposed quite like that before.....