Crash of Airbus AS350 Helicopter at Palomar Airport (November, 2015)
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- On November 18, 2015, at 1623 Pacific standard time, an Airbus Helicopters AS350B3E, N711BE, departed controlled flight while landing on a dolly at McClellan-Palomar Airport, Carlsbad, California. The private pilot and the pilot-rated passenger were fatally injured; the helicopter sustained substantial damage. The pilot, who was the owner, was operating the helicopter under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The local personal flight departed Carlsbad at 1412. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
The purpose of the flight was for the pilot to gain familiarity with the helicopter, which he had recently purchased and made a number of modifications to. The entire accident sequence was captured on a series of airport security cameras and the mobile phone cameras of multiple witnesses. Many of those videos were published in the immediate aftermath of the accident. These surveillance videos and ATC recordings were not.
About 2 hours before the accident, the helicopter departed from its dolly on the east end of the Premier Jet fixed base operator (“FBO”) ramp, which was located midfield on the south side of runway 6/24. After departure, line crew moved the dolly to the west end of the ramp. On return the approach and hover taxi to the ramp were uneventful. The pilot made a landing attempt on a dolly but landed only partially on the dolly, which caused the helicopter to pitch nose up and strike the ground with its tail. The helicopter hit the dolly with such force that the dolly broke free from the chocks securing it and spun around. (The pilot claimed on air that it had not been chocked.)
The helicopter climbed and spun upwards aggressively but stabilized after rotating 270° to the right. The pilot then landed the helicopter in an abnormal location that straddled the ramp and a taxiway. Ground crew personnel re-secured the dolly with chocks, and, after about 2 1/2 minutes, the pilot again attempted to land on the dolly, this time from the opposite direction. He made two unsuccessful attempts but was unable to maintain a stabilized approach each time. Although the pilot had the option to land on the ramp, he persisted in attempting to land on the dolly. (It was reported that the pilot was having difficulty adjusting to his newly installed stability augmentation system, fighting its inputs instead of accepting them.) On his third attempt the accident happened.
Onboard video showed that the pilot became incapacitated during the final ground collision. The passenger remained conscious after the impact and reached for the throttle on the pilot's collective control shortly after the helicopter started to spin, but the throttle position remained unchanged. He then attempted to brace himself against the glare shield, but he eventually became incapacitated after about 2 minutes due to his injuries, the forces imposed by the spinning helicopter, or both. He did not make any attempt to reach up for the engine-start selector or the fuel shutoff lever.
In the weeks preceding the accident, the pilot had expressed concern to multiple flight instructors that he was having difficulty adjusting to the flight characteristics of the helicopter. In particular, he found dolly-landings challenging.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable causes of this accident to be the pilot's loss of control during landing on a dolly. Contributing to the accident were the pilot's decision to conduct the flight without an instructor despite multiple flight instructors' recommendations to the contrary, his failure to land on the ramp when he experienced difficulty landing on the dolly, and his impaired decision-making, judgment, and psychomotor performance, due to his use of a combination of two psychoactive drugs, Benadryl and Xanax.
The complete NTSB accident report and data summary report can be found at tiny.cc/palomar.
A bit of trivia on a lighter note: the Airbus AS350 B3 variant was the first helicopter to land on the summit of Mount Everest.
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Back in 1997, a medical helicopter crashed in Denver after takeoff and striking overhead powerlines. While I was recently in the hospital for surgery, I happened to talk with a doctor who was scheduled to be on that flight but cancelled at the last minute. He said had the helicopter been just a few inches higher, it would have cleared the lines. Those powerlines weren't thin little wires but something around 3 inch diameter cables. When the helicopter tangled with the lines, the rotor blades just STOPPED!! The rotational momentum of the rotors was immediately transferred to the body of the helicopter causing it to rotate (i.e. snap) in the opposite direction. Those on board were killed when their bodies out-rotated their hearts in their chest cavities, severing arteries and nerve connections.
woh. I have never heard of being killed by spinning so hard your body twists around the heart. Do you have links to that?
@@geddon436 - I have never looked on-line to confirm what the doctor told me. He said he was also on the autopsy review board after the fact, so I believe the info is valid.
If the doctor had been on the flight it may never have happened
Christ in a frakkin cartoon!
chilling...
Nothing like some lighthearted trivia to cap off the account of a fatal accident.
As a CFI, i learned that one of the most important things is when to call it a day. When you try something once, and you screw it up, you try it again. If it gets better, then you can practice it more. If it gets worse.... STOP! If you attempt to land on the dolly and can't, sure, try it again. But if it's worse on the second try, park it somewhere else, or let your instructor do it. The point at which you start getting worse is the point at which you need to stop practicing a particular maneuver.
The first few dolly landings i did, i had a real hard time with it. "look at the horizon" they teach you. Strangely enough, when i started just leaning my head on the side window and doing the whole maneuver while looking at the skid, that totally fixed the issue.
I am A fixed wing student thank you for the tip I will file that one for another day. Never even thought about it when I had A bad day with taildragger in crosswinds it could have bit me bad! Thanks sir. no need to push for 3 touch n goes if the first one is tricky.
I like what you say about looking at the skid. Sometimes what works for someone else doesn't for you, even if that's the standard way of doing it. Figure out what works for you.
great advice "if it gets better, then practice it more, if it gets worse on your next attempt STOP!"
I used to see this guy fly out of CRQ all the time. It’s really sad but it’s a good reminder to all of the helicopter pilots.
Haven't seen ANY of these camera angles yet. Thanks for posting these and all of the info. You a do a great job. A lot to be learned from such unfortunate accidents that can hopefully save lives in the future.
Thank you.
STEVE Taylor
The first thing you loose under the influence of zanax is the ability to make good decisions.
@@kevintucker3354 and my clothes...😬
Essentially he died because of stubbornness and pride and thusly, killed a second party on board. This could have been avoided.
Yes but then we wouldn't have anything to write about. I don't know but was this a new or student pilot or a medical thing? I didn't hear anything about that but pardon me if I missed it. To bad anyhow.
Don Berry It’s all in the write up toward the end if you watch the video.
People with money that can buy an expensive helicopter, or plane are usually full of themselves and make bad choices sometimes.
@@glenturney4750 I think there is a grain of truth to that as far as new money is concerned. Those personality types tend not to be terribly risk adverse.
But its not a hard and fast rule, I know people with planes that I trust more than I would an airline pilot, because they follow every rule to the T.
@@glenturney4750 haha you are so right. I am a pilot and SOME people think they are privileged. But everyone is equal in the eyes of the ATC. I was landing at an EXTREMELY busy a/p in NY and the ATC was holding people away from a/p to get departing traffic handled. As each pilot reported inbound, this one conversation went like this with a pvt pilot:
ATC: "Please stay outside of airport we will call you back, we have numerous departing aircraft"
Pvt: "when will you call me back? I have to land"
ATC: "Sir are you declaring an emergency?"
Pvt: "no, but i have to land very soon"
ATC: "we will call you back as soon as we can"
PVT: "I have to know WHEN you will call me back!"
ATC: "We will call you back as soon as we get some departures out, there are a few aircraft ahead if you as well"
PVT: "I need to be called back first"
ATC: "I call back in the order which we were contacted. In the meantime stay outside of airport area"
Few more minutes go by as ATC is handling departing flights (this is a commercial airport)
PVT: "OK I heard you had several departures go, now can I land?"
ATC: "You were instructed to stay outside the airport area until you are called back. Are you declaring an emergency?"
PVT: "I told you no already, I have an important meeting I have to get to!"
ATC: "Then I suggest you go to an alternate airport"
PVT: "That wasn't very nice. Its not my fault you dont know how to schedule departures!"
ATC: "Sir, its not my fault you can't manage your time correctly. Either you remain clear of the airport area or go to an alternate airport."
PVT: "I wish to report you, mark the tape"
Other pilots chimed in and was telling the pvt pilot to go elsewhere. One pilot told him to STFU and stop clogging the airwaves.
It is very fortunate that no people or aircraft on the ground were hit.
For real,they need to do their training in a mudhole about 500 yards from anything.that couldve been a momentous shit show had it whirled amongst that row of planes.
What makes this truly tragic is at one point _he was on the ground and stable_ . He could have just walked away and let someone else handle the landing. All the other misjudgements - not flying with an instructor, taking strong meds before flight, etc. - those were all survivable mistakes. Pushing a landing that was beyond his level of experience in that aircraft, or *Go* fever, killed him and the other pilot. Now two families have been destroyed over a point of pride. It makes me sad.
cybersquire actually you can tell that he has a good control of this helicopter. The real problem was the lock on those pads wasn’t lock so it was moving all over the place. I guess he doesn’t want to spend the time to land on the surface and lock the pads then restart. You know turbines takes a while to shut down and restart.
@@Jopanaguiton Start looking at about 0:39. There is no way that can be considered a 'stabilised approach.' Granted, we weren't there and the video quality is not the best (no-one's fault). But it is obvious he is struggling with the landing, and it matches the NTSB report in the description. Even after the ground crew replaces the chalks, the flying was erratic. Still heartbreaking for all involved.
Yes the machine was (for a few seconds) on the ground and stable and that should have been the end of the matter.
@@cybersquire didn't help that he was also high on drugs.
How do you know the families were "DESTROYED". You don't know crap.
First, that female air traffic controller should be promoted for her institanious switch from panic mode to reactive mode...amazing...second, about time we get some explanation on this video...I dont understand why he was trying to land on a dolly that was 4 inches wider than his skids...the rule is 14 inches on all sides, or operating the aircraft in an unstable medical state...just dont understand some peoples reasoning... so I went back and re-read the act report., the dolly was 13.5ft wide and 8ft long, 25inches shorter than the length of his skids. The dolly was designed for light helicopters and this was a heavy turbine helo... pilot had prior exsperience landing on equipment rated dollies but was practicing on a smaller dolly to simulate a smaller landing pad...this is not FAA approved.
Yeah, she handled that well. Not the deadpan of the legendary ATC with icewater in his veins but good enough.
The ATC needs a promotion & more money, She was spot on. Obviously she was not only watching other aircraft & maintaining control of the airfield, but she also had some of her attention aimed at the failed landing attempt. Her reaction was so important to helping to keep folks safe on the ground (you do not want to be nowhere near a helicopter in the process of crashing) & also alerted fire of a hazard that was still in progress when fire arrived. Not many times does the fire guys get an opportunity to show up while the aircraft is still in the process of crashing. Rip to the guys who perished. The first responders really deserve a pat on the back for trying to get to the victims before it was too late. I do not believe anyone was able to survive that type of accident, as our bodies are just not designed to take that kind of punishment. When I see this, it brings back memories of the Huey pilots from the Vietnam War & the issues those guys were under as they were trying to either get supplies in or wounded out while under enemy fire. Chopper pilots of all kinds live by the hair on their backsides. Imagine trying to land a chopper on a Air Craft Carrier in rough seas. From what I understand, you have to mentally make yourself a part of the ship. Nobody knows why the pilot was so obsessed with getting proficient at landing on that very small pad. I suppose if he would have succeeded, & became good at it, that would have increased his flying skills. Unfortunately his obsession ended up costing him his life, the life of his passenger, & the loss of a helicopter.
I assume the helicopter was to be moved to its storage location via the mobile landing pad?
@@timetryp422 he was practicing landing on it. Its wat the act report says
That's why he was trying to land on it.
That passenger should have spoken up. The PIC was NOT operating it well at all and after landing it, should have been taken out of the loop. Or at the very least, the passenger should have gotten out and walked away.
Pride (Huge in THIS mental state) and meds in his system...leading to ‘false’ self-confidence and the “I’ll-get-it-done-THIS-time-itis” mentality. Worst helo fatality I’ve seen play-out in a while. SO many times he had the chance to NOT do this thing which he saw as a ‘challenge’, and he killed 2 people. Sad, really sad
Well killing yourself shouldn't count towards killing two people .
Just put some wheels on the skids and rolling it in would have been simpler.
Never understand how people can pop a Xanax before they pilot an aircraft with a passenger. I feel sorry for the passenger he had no idea what he was getting into with this idiot one reason I'm super careful who I go flying with. When you spend lot of time at the airport meet lot of pilots who have no one to fly with. Their families get bored with it have no interest in going up lot of time just there by themselves flying a twin 310 around they are happy to find someone to go flying with. You have to be careful get to know someone before you go up have no idea what they are like what their habits are. I'm sure this guy didn't tell anyone he was taking Xanax I know for a fact he would not pass a medical taking that if it was legally prescribed
@@adaptiveagile - They did a full tox screen. They know exactly how much he had in his system.
_Toxicology testing by the medical examiner detected amlodipine (0.34 mg/l) and alprazolam
(less than 0.05 mg/l) in peripheral blood.
Toxicology testing by the FAA's Bioaeronautical Sciences Research Laboratory, identified
amlodipine, valsartan, rosuvastatin, and diphenhydramine (0.538 ug/ml) in heart blood. In
addition, the FAA laboratory found alpha-hydroxyalprazolam (0.044 ug/ml) and salicylate in
urine._
@@adaptiveagile u are correct. I have to take xanax daily. It makes me feel normal whereas anyone else who doesn't take it daily, would probably get a little drowsy. I am prescribed the lowest dosage of all. And take it in the morning. If not, then I wouldn't want to drive or go anywhere for that matter. That being said, if I were to take a 2mg dose, I'd probably feel pretty goofy and definitely relaxed. Very relaxed.
Pilot's actions about being determined to land on the pad and saying it wasn't secured makes me think he could possibly have a prescription for it, for anxiety and to not be so stressed. Not that I even know if he was any of those things, just from the info provided I picture a tense person. Just an opinion.
My father made the mistake of flying with someone he barely knew, and they got into a difficult situation where the pilot was not sure if he could land, and they were nearly out of fuel so they probably couldn’t go around. It was a white-knuckle situation and he told me never to go on those small Buddy Holly types of planes (Beechcraft Bonanzas, etc.) The pilot turned out to not really know what he was doing, and everyone who knew him as a pilot would not have recommended flying with him.
This guy had no business flying
Well, as morbid as it is I want to see the video from their onboard go pro.
You've probably seen it by now but there is footage of the crash taken by a person on the ground. Having sound makes it twice as horrific.
@@TheTruthKiwi Send link
@@paulspomer16 search for Two People Die In Helicopter Crash 2016
@@TheTruthKiwi This was in 2015...
@@paulspomer16 "Two people die in helicopter crash landing 2016" is the name of the UA-cam video
A truly unforgiving machine. I flight instruct and students make me nervous until they hit that mark..... instructors know what I’m saying. Even then- hands ready at all times. This sounds like the poor guy should have not been flying.
Sorry to hear this. Hard lesson that all of us should watch. Doesn’t matter how nice the equipment is - stay current, Do factory training when required and don’t be afraid to go dual until completely comfortable.
Godspeed.
that must be a challenging job, you could die very quickly, you are a brave person
Nice comment 👍 You could have but didn’t.
There was a helicopter school next to my old FBO and I used to think helicopter instructors must have balls of steel, while watching people learn to hover and back into landing spots.
It’s a difficult machine to master. But like everything else, it becomes second nature. The trick is - never let it make you complacent.
This poor guy just sounded all the alarms.... more stringent dual should have been done. Factory training is always top notch. If you ever want to sharpen your skills in helicopters - go to a factory training course... it’s tough and costly but shows you so much.
Now Johnny on what basis do you make such a statement? Have you ever flown anything Airbus? I have, and it was more reliable than the Boeing or McDonald Douglas planes I flew.
I dread the day that I will not be able (or shouldn’t) to fly because of medical reasons. After a career as a pilot (sounds like this gentlemen was a high time pilot) that would be like not being able to breath. Sad deal and I feel for the situation and circumstances of the accident. It sounds like plenty of people had tried to nicely covey they didn’t think he should be flying without another proficient pilot, but at what point do you put your foot down or “take away the keys”? Very difficult situation and I feel for all involved in every aspect. Everyone can say what “they would do” until they are actually placed in the particular situation.
He was operating the aircraft while under the influence of Xanax and obviously knew it. I have very little sympathy for him. He took someone else’s life and put several others in danger in the immediate area.
Especially as a high time pilot (if he was, which I haven’t seen any evidence for yet), he absolutely should have known better than to take a drug as strong as Xanax plus other OTC drugs that are prohibited and then attempt to operate an aircraft.
Wow I didn't realize this was the same video that was taken from the ground when he had crashed and posted to you-tube some time back, and i guess he spun to death, this is good footage and helps explain what happened, in the original video i only assumed the camera man was the only person on the airport, and i felt bad he could do anything to help, great work on this, thanks
I only "like" these vids because they are so thorough, and not another succession of "fails". The deeper nature of the mistake and the decisions that led a person to this sometimes final destination.
We used to say the toughest thing we did all day was put the AS 350 on the dolly at the end of the day and we were the professionals. If there were winds and you had to put it on the dolly downwind things would get real interesting.
Monday morning QB here but for medical advice on human performance concerns, the salesperson should have had a heart to heart about seeing an AME before flying as PIC at all instead of recommending flying more to improve his competency. There is a reason these disease processes are called neuro-DEGENERATIVE disorders. They get worse and not better. The ultimate onus was on the PIC but the advice given was out of the purview of the sales rep. Bottom line... the fine motor compromise and delayed reaction times present in Parkinsonian syndromes are not compatible with the demanding, split second control inputs needed to keep a rotary wing in the air. Too much potential to hurt too many people. RIP guys🙏
To Bad the passenger didn't get out when he landed beside the platform, he should have said let me out and I will watch you land from the outside, especially since the passenger had to see that the pilot was having a lot of trouble controlling his helicopter. But I guess it's just human nature to say after an accident he should have done this or that, unfortunately the passenger probably never even imagined that these are his last seconds alive. Luckily he didn't kill anyone else because there was a lot of people and very expensive aircraft all around. RIP Pilot and Passenger.
Aviation Nut *Too
@@julianrencock
UA-cam must have stolen the extra "O", because they're short on "O's" at the UA-cam Headquarters.
Wow just look at when rescue vehicle comes. Quite fast
OoIRANoO Palomar’s a rather small field despite how busy it is. If I remember correctly, the ARFF truck is stuffed under a tent by the passenger terminal about a third of a mile down the field from where this happened.
This may be one of your best videos yet. Where do you find all the content etc?
Crash investigation summary - The pilot was past it. Sad, but often the same thing is seen on the roads with 80+ year old drivers carrying on until they have a crash.
My mom is 80 and she’s an excellent driver. I don’t have a problem with increasing the frequency of competence checks for seniors though. An annual quick competency test at DMV for seniors over eighty wouldn’t be unreasonable.
The guy was on Xanax AND Benadryl. I don’t care who you are or at what age, that’s both dangerous and illegal to operate an aircraft. There are plenty of excellent 65+ year old pilots out there.
Recovered from the shock in scant moments, and proceeded to handle the Alert 3 calmly and professionally. Well done all (with the sole exception of the PIC, whose multiple poor choices led to the death of him and his passenger)!
This Helicopter is in the AS350 family but the real name for this 1 is called an (H125). H125's have that tail protector right behind the exhaust. I study helicopters as my passion & possibly future career.
Sad situation.
I remember reading how differently Jetrangers handled compared to Hughes 500s. I imagine there is a similar level of difference between the 407 and the 350.
Unlike a subsonic fixed wing aircraft a helicopter is always trying to crash. A helicopter pilot spends 100% of his time counteracting that death wish.
Cessna pilot here, but never a helicopter. I've heard that flying a helicopter is like balancing a broom on your hand. You have to constantly react to keep it from tipping over.
@@henryD9363 Sounds too much like riding a unicycle only off the ground, not an experience I would enjoy!
You have to rewire your brain to fly a helicopter. I learned on a Mattel Messerscmidt Hughes TH-55. After a couple of hours I was ready to give up. Manual throttle on collective, pedals for anti-torque and cyclic to control tip path plane- make a change in any one of them and it affects the rest. Hovering seemed beyond my ability. Then about the 3rd hour, we were hovering and I thought IP still on controls, glanced over and his feet off pedal and arms folded. That was my experience, one day I was ready to concede defeat and next day I was fine. I soloed at about 10 hours and it was one of the greatest moments of my life. Then I went on to fly Hueys, Cobras and a few hours in Hughes OH-6.
Many years after that I transitioned to fixed wings, starting with a Cessna 172. First time I ever used a checklist and was amazed how easy it was to fly. With an instructor I started flying right away and soloed after 2 hours. I can see it would be hard to start with starch and go to rotary.
@@henryD9363 ,
Yes, even the twin counterrotating rotor ones like Huskies, H-47s, or those Soviet ones want to crash, just in different ways. It takes a 4 axis autopilot to what a 3 axis does in a fixed wing aircraft.
Well the Astar has wider skids than the 407. He only had 6hrs in the astar and wasn’t even signed off in it yet. Bruce, the pilot died nearly instantly after smacking the ground, his passenger only survived 4 or 5 of the spins.
Very sad, this appears to be a classic case of a pilot getting in over their head and not being able to tell when it was time to stop digging. Pride or stubbornness that lead to two totally avoidable deaths. The pilot had already expressed his discomfort with that machine and his intention to sell it and go back to a Bell that he was familiar and comfortable with and yet he still felt inclined to attempt this landing. Pride comes before a fall, and this was a damn big fall. The pilot's medical history does rather raise a question as to whether he was actually fit to fly a helicopter...
Looked like a very inexperienced pilot trying to fly the helicopter he just modified & bought. May the departed be blessed to a Better World & Realm! 🕯🌷🌿
That was the longest crash I've ever seen.
From the sound of this particular accident, the pilot had a lot of difficulty getting used to the torque-yaw of the clockwise rotor system, which is understandable. You've been doing something one way for years, then one day try to do the opposite. You're fighting all that automacity you've programmed into yourself.
Not really. Your feet don’t care which way the rotor is turning . They just work to keep the nose straight. Simple
@@ralphcorsi741 there's a certain level of automacity that develops for particular actions. After flying a CCW rotor system for hundreds of hours, you tend to automatically add left pedal when increasing collective, and add right pedal when lowering it. When pulling up on the collective, do you wait to see what way the aircraft will yaw? Of course not. You instinctively anticipate the appropriate amount of antitorque you'll need. When switching to a CW rotor system, you have to quickly get rid of that automatic response in favor for another. For young people, it's not a problem. Most guys i know say it took a couple hours to fully get used to. But for someone older, like the pilot in the video, he lacks the neuroplasticity to do that quickly. Watching the video, anyone can clearly see that the pilot had major issues with yaw control.
After reading the intro - WHY was he allowed to fly when taking drugs like Benadryl and Xanax!!!!!!!
Xanax is very definitely not allowed for any pilot, irrespective of rating!!!!!
It was his helicopter, who could have stopped him?
After watching about 500 videos of these aircraft crashing every which way imaginable,the next time i take a trip Im gonna have to eat a handful of xanax and wash em down with moonshine.
Vf, obviously you do not own a aircraft.
See how desparate they are to sell helicopters, after confirming their insurance policy can support it. What is sad is the guy landed and lifted off again to land on the fancy dolly, that has little if any orientation markings, and no help from ground crew, for linear and lateral orientation, and that was it.
ERICtheLATE we always land without ground help on dolly’s. But it’s an art different from landing on the flat. It takes a lot of practice. When you are practicing you give it one try, maybe two and then land on the flat. Otherwise it only gets worse. His biggest mistake was not getting 75-100’ away from the dolly and then shooting an approach down to the dolly. It’s too hard to be up close with all the ground effect turbulence. Break through the ground effect on your way to the dolly so you only experience it for a few seconds. Instead of from all directions hovering a few feet above the ground in an unfamiliar aircraft
Extremely efficient fire and rescue service at this airport!!
Benadryl and Xanax what a great formula for a pilot
At least it wasn't marijuana
Sadly that guy was out of his depth piloting that fine machine
Kinda like Jack Roush
The "SAS makes it harder to fly IMO. I prefer SAS off with a bit of cyclic friction. If this guy was as bad at flying as it seems in this report...an astar would be the absolute worst choice.
I have a saying, "the astar will make a good pilot look bad, and the 407 will make a bad pilot look good."
Exactly!, and the 500 will kill him buckling his harness!
What does the astar accomplish?
@@VictoryAviation Astar is a type of helicopter.
Do you mean SAS? SAS Stabilization Augmentation System. It is normally part of an autopilot system and if you let go of the flight controls in flight the aircraft will stay fairly upright which helps if you fly into clouds. However SAS puts constant forces on the flight controls which you have to push against when landing and hovering.
@@dpeagles Thanks for the correction. Yes that was what I was curious about.
As a fixed wing pilot, I would never hand fly with the AP system on. At that point you’re just fighting the controls. That seems insane.
Does the system have the ability to control how much artificial input is mixed in with the pilot’s? All around this pilot had stacked the decks against himself. Seems like someone aught to know a lot about SAS before trying to attempt a precision landing with it.
In short dont do xanax and combine it with other drugs while attempting to fly a chopper and refusing to listen to others when they tell u it's a bad idea this is what happens two ppl dead.
How do u know he was on xans?
He didn't snort lmao he was just under the influence of prescription drugs.
@@paulspomer16 Prescription drugs are just the same as illegally bought ones...and just as bad for making blunders like this.
@@Oakleaf700 correct. Some harmless drugs are illicit, while some very dangerous ones you can get a prescription for. And often the prescribed ones are exactly the same or very close in chemical composition to illicit ones.
That being said, as far as the FAA medical is concerned, this pilot was illegal because he was taking Xanax and Benadryl. If you went to the aviation medical examiner and told you you were taking those drugs, FAA rules stipulates the doctor would not allowed to issue the certificate.
@@tammyrogne1471 because of the toxicology results in the NTSB report
Wow! very lucky he didn't take out those planes and people beside them. That copter could have gone in any direction even go right inside that hanger and reek all kinds of destruction. The direction it went couldn't have turned out better despite the awful tragedy.
This person clearly did not have enough experience to fly that thing.
He had plenty of experience. What he didn't have was the reactions and health to do so.
Too much experience sometimes kills... it’s called over-confidence and not knowing your own limits
@@jamestheotherone742 James, his instructor disagreed with you. He explicitly told him not to fly without him or another instructor until he was able to better handle the hover work.
Why was he ordered to land on a movably and unanchored pad? It flew away once and he landed just fine on the tarmac?
victorsilva5150 Because the skids have no wheels for moving the aircraft.
shocked this happened, what with how smooth he was flying the helicopter before the crash and all.
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
NOV. 19, 2015 2:09 PM PT
CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) - A helicopter crash that killed two men at a California airport occurred as the pilot was practicing landings.
The San Diego County medical examiner’s office says the helicopter’s tail struck the ground during a landing Wednesday and it spun out of control at McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad. Both men aboard died at the scene.
The medical examiner identified the pilot as 65-year-old Bruce Allen Erickson. American Bank of Montana confirmed Thursday that Erickson was its chairman and CEO. Also killed was his friend, 60-year-old Wayne Frank Lewis of Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California.
The bank’s website says Erickson had more than 25,000 hours of flight time and ratings to fly various types of airplanes and helicopters.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash of the Airbus AS350 helicopter.
Thanks for that clarification LS
"Benadryl and Xanax" ... and then go flying????
Do we really need the whole video speed up so much
yeah because some other asshole might bitch about how long it is.
@Monkey Head have a snickers bar and relax buddy
I tried the replay speed at .75 and it was still fast - had to go to .5 - finally seemed normal but very grainy.
There’s a great video of a K-Max helicopter landing with a pilot at the controls.
He gets out and the thing flies off on its own. I think it’s a preprogrammed flight and not remotely piloted. But I could be wrong.
That’s what this guy needed. A totally automatic flight control system for the helicopter.
Not cheap, but it seems like money was not an obstacle for him?
A man's got to know his limits...........
He safely landed on ground, but why he tried to fly again when he was seeing problem in flying? Tragic.
Loss of tail rotor presents many challenges.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
It would have been easier to land off the pad, moved the pad away from the windy conditions, and then land.
Nonetheless the AS350B3E or Squirrel, as it is commonly referred to can be a more challenging ship to fly than say, the Bell 407 (which the PIC had previously owned and was very familiar with) and which is considered extremely docile, by comparison. The Squirrel is in extensive use around the world in many roles, and is known by pilots to be a ship that has a reputation for being involved in a lot of crashes, attributed not only to pilot error but aircraft malfunction. That said, as per the NTSB findings, aside from the pilot claiming the dolly was not chocked, it would appear the Squirrel was too much to handle for this aging aviator ...and the drugs in his system, recent or not, wouldn't have helped. Pilot was told that if he experienced difficulty in landing on the dolly that he should just put down on the ground proper. RIP both
I have been taking Benadryl for years and worked as a tower crane operator for 30 years up to 900' heights and was considered one of the best around and now the faa says it affected my work? Getting hit by lightning 10 times hurt me a hell of a lot more. (Have the door and window wide open makes you part of the charge)
it appears that after the second tail-strike one tail-rotor blade is missing, likely initiating the rotation.
em1o smurf this is WHY the COAST GUARD, uses the models they do, as the TAIL ROTOR IS ENCLOSED, think it’s a Dauphine.
@@flybyairplane3528
Coast Guard NOW uses dolphin helicopters. The first models were just a tail rotor just like the bell 500, and the ones on the TV show MASH. I think it was the 80's or so when they started using these. Our fire department switched to an enclosed rotor system after one of the copter crashed after the rescue basket came in contact with the tail rotor.
wow .. great response time .. the woman atc immediately went into rescue mode!! well trained! rip ..
I am really surprised that this was a fatal accident.
It's quite easy to shake a brain into jello. It has happened to drag racers from tire shake (Eric Medlen).
I can’t imagine the g-forces exerted on their bodies for several minutes while the helo spun out if control. That alone could easily kill someone.
As a non-pilot, my question is: Is there ever a window of time when a pilot can prevent this horrible spinning before they’re incapacitated?
gomphrena as a former army pilot I can tell you this is not something we ever trained for.. I’ve never even seen this before. Rotating forces are very difficult on the human body .. they probably passed out long before they could even think what to possibly do. A horrifying accident.
Clearly not competent to land anywhere near a dolly.
SOOO hesitant!
BULL SHIT.., it was on the ground but had to land on a mat?
This is a piss take.., a joke.
Sometimes they have to put them on a dolly to get them into hangars.
If that were a dolly I could understand your point, but it was a crash mat, "no pun intended".
@@formhubfar I don't know what you are looking at, but it was a dolly that he was trying to land on. "Crash Mat?", not sure if you are being flippant or what...
My apologies, I thought it was some form of mat.
Sad. Seems the pilot had more money than brains. RIP.
"..the pilot had expressed concern that he was having difficulty adjusting to the flight characteristics of the helicopter...
...his impaired decision-making, judgment, and psychomotor performance, due to his use of a combination of two psychoactive drugs, Benadryl and Xanax."--------.....Yeah what could possibly go wrong?
Dolly landing ARE challenging. Hard to tell from the film speed how coordinated his flying was. Though I have done it, I've never liked them, specially if not into the wind. Not sure why the owner needed SAS for such machine. With the dual hydraulic system, it's very smooth to fly and hover. If initial training was done on a US built helicopter, the rotor turns opposite on the 350. Throttle, fuel and rotor brake are overhead on the B3, not sure about passenger reaching for throttle on the collective (on vide description). Obviously some knowledge of Bell or MD helicopters from before. New simulator devices have training for this maneuver, and if me, I would have taken the ramp. RIP.
20,000 flight hours. He was a seriously experienced aviator. What chance do the rest of us have? :(
Dumile Ndlovu experience sometimes works against you as a pilot
He had a shit ton of experience in a Citation Jet and the Bell 407GX ,but only 6hrs in the Astar. He wasn’t ready to fly it without an instructor. He paid the price for the mistake unfortunately. But he left many low hour pilots a good reminder of what can happen.
For one, don’t take Xanax and Benadryl and then try to go fly an aircraft you’ve barely got any experience in.
That thing proved to be tough to continue pumping out power for that long thrashing around.
Tell strike . Lots of ground effect.
Probably low hour.
Beautiful machine
Watch the video. Read. It says right there in the documentation that full left pedal was applied.
Its just an unfortunate accident. A tail rotor strike. The dollie had nothing to due with it. It take time to learn a new machine. Especially if you are coming to an articulated rotor system. The reaction time is faster. And that takes a little time.
What?!? The PIC had 25,000 hours flight time (mostly fixed wing), but wasn't a professional airline pilot with a commercial ticket?!?
Rich old man who liked flying machines.
Caldwell Transport Columbus, GA Bruce was a nice guy. He had hundreds of hours of jet time and had another helicopter before hand. Bruce had no business flying the Astar at the time. He wasn’t signed off in it. He would’ve been fine if the cart was chocked. The cart spun around making Bruce land with the wind at his tail. The astar is called the “squirrel” for a reason its a lot different than the 407.
my son flew for a outfit out of slc ut--on the given day he was unable to do the assignment--told the management not to let his replacement land on the trailer---they attempted anyway to save 20 mins of flight time--the pilot missed and the rotors killed one of the ground crew,bad injuries on 2nd ground crew--the heli was on fire and a mechanic ran out to save pilot and passenger--all three suffered bad burns--very stupid accident--a heli is trying to kill everybody around it,in it, the second the rotors move.....
Excellent controller response for an inflight emergency. What was the true cause ? So sorry for the loss of life here it looked survivable.
It was being flown by an experienced helicopter pilot however he was not certified or familiar enough with this particular aircraft.
@@jamesmoore8900 and he was on Xanax AND Benadryl mixed
When things go wrong on a helicopter, it seems to end in tragedy.
Boy that engine just wouldn't quit' I counted at lest thirty revolutions before it finally gave up the ghost.
Engines are pretty reliable. The problem is with the pilots.
More money than brains , plain and simple.
Still two people died, you sick fuck
@Cris LeRose - He was on more than two.
Christ unbelievable that he struck nothing. Lots of inventory and fuel 🚚
It looks like one door was open as the helicopter was spinning. Was he found still in his seat, or was he thrown out of the helicopter? It's difficult to see how fast it was spinning. If he was 6 feet from center of rotation at 30 RPM (180 degrees per sec), that would be about 2 g's of force forward, out the door. But, I would guess seat belts would withstand that.
the reason the door opened was due to either Frame damage or the latch broke. But unfortunately I think they turned into jello well the brain
That was sickening to watch. Wonder if pilot owner had got training in his newly purchased helicopter.
That should buff out
Quite a RIDE!
Wow, that helicopter went down fighting.
This attitude is what give GA a bad reputation, and the shocking statistics. I do admit I may not have realised the dolly was unsuitable prior to the attempted !anding. But....upon realizing the dolly being too small, and that I couldnt hit it safely, I wouldn't have continued trying.
I will never understand that train of thoughts "I may be dead, but my pride is intact, I did not have to admit I couldn't do it!"
“I may be dead, but my pride is intact.”
I’m definitely going to teach my students that phrase so they can keep themselves in check. Thanks for sharing.
Why does this happen. I’ve seen this exact thing before. Gust of wind ? Or mech malfunction ?
Hope they were ok. Choppers are damned expensive.
Helicopters are crazy responsive. The slightest input makes them respond. It takes quite a few hours to be able to control one. It takes some people 20-30 hours to be able hover over a 20 acre square and some folks never can hover. But the human brain is amazing! When I started I’d sweat bullets concentrating hovering and after a few days I could hover and talk to ATC over the radio and look around like it was nothing
Very freaky. He's already safely on the ground. Then dies trying to land on a ridiculously small dolly on his 1st flight without an instructor. Yup! More money than brains.
AS350 is not the easiest helicopter to put on the platform but if I can do it, it's not impossible.
Surf City Video what's the purpose of landing on a postage stamp??
its a small cart/trailer with wheels, so they can tow the heli into a hangar or somewhere for parking. They really don't need to be large at all, this guy set himself up for failure
Why is landing on a dolly difficult?
For anyone who is new to it, a dolly landing can be VERY difficult. Before even thinking of it, you already have to realize that if you don't get it on the dolly, your $2 million helicopter isn't going back in the hangar where it belongs.
So without further adieu:
First, you have no choice as to the direction of the wind and you must compensate accordingly. Second, there is very little area for the skids and if you don't get it right, the helicopter could topple off the dolly, causing immense trouble. Third, when hovering over a dolly, you can't see it. Perhaps a bit of the tow bar is in view and maybe a little bit of the frame out of the chin bubble (the windows at your feet). Forth, when landing a helicopter, you must look out and away, not stare at the ground right below you. Looking at objects too close in will cause pilot induced oscillations as can be seen in the video. So, as you approach the dolly you have to be able to see it slide under you, look further out, come to complete stop in the air, align the skids and gently allow her to settle without drifting in any direction. It gets easier over time. I will say that the EC350 series of helicopters are very squirrely on touchdown and take a very deft touch. It takes a lot, A LOT of practice to land one gently (even on the pavement or grass with no dolly). Bell helicopters are much more well behaved and are a complete joy when touching down. I hope this helps...
Sad, pilot (according to the report) should have not been trying to fly. It takes great coordination to fly a helicopter, report says his reaction and coordination had diminished over the years and his hands shake at times.....not good. Rest in peace crew.
And why in heaven did he fly, having already 20,000 hours in airplanes and 5000 in helicopters, after taking Xanax and Benadryl?
@@henryD9363 Man, now that's something any passenger would need to know about the man he's flying with!
John H
That Xanax throws your decision making skills right out the window.
what really sucks is the fact that this is in fast forward. id rather see it in real time.
my friend had a scorpion helo years ago that's when i learned how hard helos are to fly.
There's a part of me that's glad the Jetsons weren't right about everything in the future.... could you imagine if everyone had a flying car to go with their smart phones?
That was a fast response.
The video was 10x speed.
The one person asked .... are there any people in the helicopter ? Nope .... it just took off on its own ..
I thought the same thing. Helicopters are small aircraft but they can be very hard to fly if not current or experienced. Astars are also prone to ground resonance if you don't put them down gently.. They are much harder to land smoothly compared to many other helicopters.
Did they manage to exit the copter after it crashed. Once it burst into flames it would have been hopeless.
@@drmayeda1930 I understand they died within.
As I listened to it I got the sense that he was wondering if they had been ejected... not wondering if the helicopter launched itself.
They were asking if there was anyone in the JET that the helicopter clipped. Or whether the jet was parked and unoccupied.
another ridiculous word "fatally injured"
"Fatally injured" is a term of art specific to accident investigation. Look it up. It makes a lot of sense.
looked it up and still disagree...dead is dead...was he killed in action or fatality injured in action? I seen another video of a plane crashing and exploding with the same term used...killed on impact would be the best definition..
Injured implies too much with survival or something repairable "injury"
Too much much micro managing in words...
dead is dead dude....
Two words, actually. I mean, if you're trying to "correct someone", be correct.
Apparently the owner/pilot had considerably more money, diphenydramine and alprazolam than skill. Well, maybe a bit more ego than skill too.
You see this is why I hate helicopters
But did the pilot survive? I bet he didn’t because the helicopter was spinning out of control
By any chance, is there a cartoon bee painted on the side of that Premier?
The command pilot was consistent only in his recklessly negligent judgment and should not have attempted to fly that profile with a passenger, but with an instructor pilot instead!
Having safely landed following the initial catastrophe, the pilot and passenger should have left the aircraft and retrieved ground handling wheels at the very least.
In short, the pilot was unfit to fly that aircraft in that profile on that day, and in doing so he destroyed the aircraft, killing his passenger and himself.
This was entirely avoidable!
Atc are trained to be cool n calm,but that lady’s true feelings came out with oh my god,hope all survived.
Both dead
I don't understand why he decided to hover for SO LONG....he was at one point down and safe, seemed like there was something maybe wrong with the helicopter landing pad and they went to fix it quick, maybe not secured...very unfortunate and tragic.
Just watching his flight from his first ettempt at landing on the pad and the subsequent tight and erratic flight circuit, I would have gone away quite far from this guy if I was anywhere near him. You can just feel it coming. So he buys the helo just to find out that it is not his taste after all and then want to sell it ? Like you buy a shirt or something ? This may show some mental issues as well as his lack of proficiency / ability to fly. Should have been banned from flying long ago.
12345fowler why ? He had about 4K hours in helicopter , so he has ANXIETY, so ZANAX ? BENADRYL is a SEDATING ANTIHISTAMINE, this one WORKS,
So what actually killed the occupants?
Legend says it's still spinning today
Nossa , quanto despreparo , um helicóptero visivelmente com sérios problemas , até um leigo ve isso , e o piloto ainda tenta pousar próximo de outras aeronaves e um caminhão tanque , certamente carregado de combustível .