Helicopter Accident In Auckland

[Robin]

How damn scary would that be if you were the pilot or those guys standing nearby.

Absolutely stupid to have a helicopter flying so low in a built up area full of guy wires and posts but I glad everyone was OK. They were putting up an Xmas tree.



Other angles...

 

[Techy]

I wonder what he was trying to do going that low..

 

[mattythedog]

Lucky he was so low, otherwise they'd be scraping him off the Tarmac right now.

 

[wfooshee]

Something broke in the helicopter, I don't think he hit anything. You see the whole fuselage shake and vibrate.

The comment about flying among poles and guy wires is out of place, because he was flying over a clear lot. The telefoto lenses distort the view of what looks like a forest of things in his way, but the behavior of the chopper tells me that something broke in the drivetrain. You can clearly see the whole rotor shaft assembly shaking at the top before the tail folds up, and I'm not sure I don't see the tail flexing a bit just a second before you see the fuselage rocking about.

OTOH, if a blade tip snapped off, the whole assembly goes seriously out of balance, don't it? I still can't believe they wouldn't have known exactly where everything was, and how much space the chopper needed.

 

[Robin]

I know many of the perceived obstacles are actually in the background and foreground of the video but on the site there are still large poles with wires attached surrounding the helicopter at a close distance, certainly something you wouldn't expect to see in an area with a helicopter hovering.

At 0:24 in the first vid you can see a cable blowing around in the turbulence created by the helicopter which I believe must have got clipped by the blades. The cable doesn't necessarily have to get tangled in the rotors, it could have just been sliced by the blade tip which knocked the helicopter off balance. Also you can hear that swoosh sound which you usually hear when a cable 'cracks'. I really doubt it was mechanical failure but I guess we will have to wait and see.

 

[lbsf1]

Slightly off topic but in the last vid you can see the guy in the foreground get his phone out like he is going to take a picture.

 

[Moglet]

Slightly off topic but in the last vid you can see the guy in the foreground get his phone out like he is going to take a picture.

I'd have done the same, some papers will pay good money for a decent photo. I'd only take one if I knew I couldn't help first though.

 

[Mr. S]

Glad that everyone seems to be ok, lucky him.