A lot of people on the ground were lucky too since the rotor didn't disintegrate and send shrapnell all over the place. I also was surprised the pilot waited so long to shut the engine down.
4,000 hr power line helicopter pilot here........where there are roads, poles, houses, etc, etc- there ARE wires. Read the hardware on the poles- it will let you know where the wires are and where they go. This could have been so tragic!!
Dan Miller as a lineman with both distribution and helicopter assisted transmission experience, i couldnt agree more. Any pilot knows you avoid energized lines and never fly in the Right Of Way.....unless your flying a MD500 and working on them... ;-). Fly safe my friend. 2 people i trust the most with my life God and my pilot. Cant believe that this guy tried to fly under the line. Distribution lines sagged at appropriate clearance (as seen in this video) leave little room for the tall height of the main rotor shaft of an R44. Im guessing he was not keeping his mind on what he was doing and more on the crowd he was trying to impress. First deadly error any pilot can make. Scarier yet, all the people walking around a downed powerline so carelessly. For all they know the OCR's may not have locked out and even if they dont make direct contact, there is always step-potential. Cant believe there werent several fatalities in this event. God was sure watching over them all.
Let me tell you guys a story about these pilots we have here in good old South Africa, you will notice the insignia on the machine is Altech Netstar. They are a vehicle tracking company and that machine is used for the recovery of stolen vehicles, they get to fly around a lot, and as a result generally employ new pilots, guys with low hours and even less experience. They then fly around at speed chasing stolen cars through built up areas. I can't speak for the pilot responsible here, except for the fact that he should know better flying a vehicle tracking helicopter low hours or not! But I suspect the hype of the crowd pleasing got in the way of judgement.
As you can see, the lines were stretching across diagonally. They weren't directly following the path of the other wires. Not sure why the wire was so low to begin with, but you can see the helicopter actually passing in front of the other main wires. I couldn't even see the small wire that made contact until after it moved, I'm guessing the pilot obviously couldn't see the wire either until it was too late.
Common sens, do not land near power lines. That's all, the dude landed on them, that dude on the ground is an idiot and the pilot too. They had enough place to land 50-100m away, but hey.. it make to much sens. It could have killed those under the lines too, and they couldn't care less about the fire spreading..
MegaPoxie I thought that at first but I think he was pointing him to the field on the other side of the lines away from people, which does seem like the better LZ really and it’s not an issue to fly over the lines. He flew over them and then turned back around, I wouldn’t doubt if the girl was asking him to land there near people so they’d all see her getting out of a helicopter. Obviously though the pilot should have just done whatever he wanted and not listened to all these other fuckers.
The pilot in command is responsible for the safe operation of an aircraft. If he follows the directions of a bystander and say, hits a powerline, it is the pilot's fault.
@Chane Van Rooyen Sorry to hear about your father. From a pilot's perspective and we always critique our mistakes (it's good for future fliers and us)....experienced pilots don't look for power lines....we look for power poles because they are what you can spot. You always come in or leave over the pole because regardless where the "power line" is or whether or not you can even spot it...the power line will NEVER be higher than the pole. Very poor decision making on the pilots part, he was too distracted by all the people watching. Final judgement: PILOT ERROR.
Brutal. As a pilot you should have been able to recognize the large electric line poles along the road. Always have your head on a swivel. Glad everyone is safe
Really your a pilot and you aren't aware that powerlines are literally invisible while flying?!?!?!?! due to the angles of high altitude?!?!?!?!?! I highly doubt it buddy. Also look at the video, its clearly foggy. This is why flying low is dangerous, but he was landing.....and it looks like he is landing somewhere that isn't a normal land area, probably was told to land there. If you're actually a pilot that fly passengers, then you would understand how fucking easy and often this happens. If you really are a pilot you only have a few years and couple fly's
not all of them its more the people not looking or no checking the maintenance of the helicopter becuase the plades are only like a coke can wit lots of layers so they are in need in mor maintenance then cares or planes so its the teacher or the maintenance people not the poilets fualt
This is why a "high recon" followed by a "low recon" is done prior to landing at your LZ or landing zone. Nice save and fortunately close to ground. No one injured or killed.
IFC Airwolf I cant believe you actually believe this. The dude was joking. I’m pretty sure the guy pointing was pointing to the field on the other side of the lines where there weren’t as many people. The pilot flew over the lines and then headed back in the direction where the guy pointed him away from, probably because the couple in the helicopter wanted to be dropped off near as many people as possible because they wanted everyone to see them getting out of a helicopter.
@@mcearl8073 yep just too bad I was a bit too late ti witness my self were on our way there and next moment we received a call to say about the helicopter so we going to take quite a bit long to get in. After 4-5 years I managed to fond the video
*This could so easily have turned out much much worse.* Everyone involved should be grateful that this isn't a viral video with 5 million views titled *"Low level chopper crash with detached rotors in a crowded area and severed high voltage electric cable -15 dead"*
Glad everyone got down safe! That’s the most important part. For us rotor guys...here is a good example of how incorporating a high recon on the LZ, (especially on off airport) before committing to go in. Just that added layer can keep you ahead of the surprise...even more so if there is a ground guide waveing you off or redirecting. We need to know why!
I saw a helicopter hit power lines the other day in UA-cam and now I'm on my 67th helicopter power line video. Apparently they can't see the power lines or something. This is quite common from what I've seen.
The pilot was flying VFR (aka: VISUAL FLIGHT RULES). Pilot's responsibility to avoid collisions with . . . anything!?! And why would you power back up after a rotor strike?! Shut it down and hope it doesn't disintegrate into dangerous shrapnel. Where did this guy get his flight training/certification? Sure hope he never flies around my air space.
he was directed to the other side of the wires....and his final approach put the sun right in his eyes...there were a lot of factors leading up to this close call. Glad to see no one was hurt.
When in doubt all roads have wires...All rivers have wires..All straight lines on the landscape have wires. If you see a tower assume it has cables comming from it....I don't care if it looks like a glass smooth lot with nothing but sky around..ALWAYS do a recon before landing. And if it doesn't look good, then to hell with the guy on the ground trying to Marshall you in. You are the PIC..Number one killer of heli pilots is this right here..These guys were very lucky.
Looked like they came in with the sun in their eyes. With sun glasses it makes it even harder to see the lines. The R44 has an extremely high rotor also. They were extremely lucky it snapped perfectly and it did not wrap around the rotor. Saw a video of the lines wrapping around the rotor and it slammed into the ground, everyone on board was killed.
Why would the ground crew direct him over by the power lines and why would the pilot try and fly under them?? He was on a good approach path originally no lines clear of obstructions and landed what looks to be in the same area he was headed to in the first place
So, who's the absolute genius who decided to direct a helicopter to land right next to a power line? And what _was_ that pilot thinking, moving in there and NOT seeing the line(s) and nearby towers?
Lines can be hard to see from behind glass due to light, Haze, shadows... too many factors to name, unless we see a cockpit view then we can only assume it was an accident and not negligence (Both are different, accident is something that may happen and no one is really to blame, negligence is someone not doing what they are supposed to.)
Second Unit Aerials Unless it's another helio PILOT directing you NEVER trust anybody on the ground. I've had guys direct me yo back up coming into a tight spot and if I had I would have put my tail rotor into a bunch of bushes. The guy told me later he didn't think TRIMMING THE BUSHES A BIT WITH MY TAIL ROTOR WOULD BE A PROBLEM!!!
+DAVE YOUNGMAN He should not have attempted to fly under low clearance power lines. Always fly over power lines unless you have a ground guide, but PIC is always the decision maker.
Pilot error, pure and simple. Those people in that thing just used their entire lifetimes supply of luck. No pilot SA, did not assess the landing area at all obviously. Should not have assumed that the people directing him on the ground had any idea what they were doing. Big mistake. Just damn lucky......
Steve Lovett i think its also a bit of ground control error too. they should have had him landing in the part of the field that didn't have electrical lines around it. the part the pilot was approaching to begin with.
first of all he should not have followed the hand commands of those 2 people on the ground he was coming in for a landing and should of continued. remember pilot in command has the final say.
Line strikes are the biggest cause of helicopter accidents so don’t be too cavalier with your condemnation. They are very lucky to have survived that one unscathed.
If the pilot had landed where he had planned then this would not have happened. Someone motioned for him to land on the left. That time of the day and with the haze that time of the year makes it almost impossible to see wires. Pilot did very well to keep calm and land the helicopter.....a lot of pilots would have panicked and crashed.
coming back to this video now with IRL experience in the seat if it were me i would have come straight in and not followed the dude that was trying to Marshal the heli in the beginning of the video and landed in the same area roughly but with out over flying the wires. it just shows you that complacency can kill these folks are lucky
What can be said? Obviously the pilot did not intend flying underneath the power lines. The fact of the matter is he didnt see them. This was, after all, just another accident. Power lines can be very difficult to see, and this was dusk. The fact that the chopper was pointed by one chap in another direction is fine, they simply wanted the pilot to land on the grass I suppose, where it would be less dusty. There is one person who could have done a bit more though, and that was the chap in the dark clothes who walked across the scene as the pilot came in to land. It would have been great if he pointed out the power lines to the pilot. Yup, he could have done that. It would maybe have been a good idea if the pilot had scouted the area earlier, before attempting to land at such a late hour. I am glad they got away though.
Why didn't he just land in the field he initially flew into at 00:34? Or circle through from that way? No reason to go over the wires. Heli pilot has priority over a wedding planner.
MrWolfSnack he did it for the crash video and uploaded it to UA-cam for views. It is all just set up. There’s no way when you plan out where you going to land you plane to land in wires. You don’t just land at a random field. You do hours of planning on where you takeoff and the exact place where you land.
From the perfection of some of the commentators you can guess that they dont fly, dont fly much or dont have much varied experience. Surest path to an incident is being sure of your own perfection.
whenever i land a helicopter, i ALWAYS ALWAYS check for power lines. in fact i have a notice in the cockpit saying "CHECK FOR POWERLINES"... i dont land if i see powerlines near by...
jeremy western He should have atleast orbited once to have a look. We are trained to run through wotfeel. Wind, obstructions, turbulence, forced landing, entry, exit, and landing zone. Scan through all of those as you do atleast one orbit and stuff like this should never happen. But some "pilots" will find ways to fuck up. Not everyone was meant to fly.
Yeah, I always check for power lines when I fly a helicopter too. It's just sorta common sense eh? The ironic thing is, I have never flown a helicopter.
That's because cheaper helis are flown by passionate amateurs and more expensive helis are flown by professionals. The R44 falls into what I like to call the "idiot zone".
They could've landed anywhere on that empty field but they followed the teacher's direction to land in an area close to the power line. What does the teacher knows about landing a helicopter or flying in general. Also wonder if there is even an option to go higher above the power line before dropping down directly onto the desired spot. Glad it resulted in a safe landing though. That doesn't happen often after hitting a power line.
This is a very valuable video for those of us who do tours and events! It seems that the pilot was facing the sun when he made the approach to the parking lot, and the wires were obscured from his/her vision. It is also dusk, which is the time that the eyes are transitioning from day to night vision. Many automobile accidents happen at dusk also. Much more so on an unimproved landing zone with non-professional ground guides. I'm glad the crew and pax are safe!
Huge power poles! Yeah right sun blocked his view. Fricken lucky the pilot didn't kill anyone and thank God his license was pulled. Major fault of the pilot!
"From up there none if us could have seen the power lines, so I don’t blame the pilot at all." - Good pilots don't land where they cannot see. He is trained to spot hazards such as this if he is acting professionally. You had a HORRID pilot and are lucky to be alive.
Nakor Z Less about physics and more about common sense. There's nothing here that requires a background in physics or aviation to tell that he got "lucky"; lucky that he wasn't flying higher or lower to start with. He just lucked out and hit the wires in such a way that not even "wire cutters" if he had them installed on the aircraft, would've made a difference. Foolish pilot. There's reason why you cross wires over the poles.
The pilot having committed to land was instructed to land in a different position. As a pilot you would have expected the person directing to realise they were directing the airship to a safe landing zone. If someone takes it upon themselves to direct and aircraft, they are responsible entirely. Therefore the blame lays on the shoulders of the ground crew, not the pilot. Pilots land where they are told, the assumption being those that tell them are qualified.
Edward Campbell No, just luck. Out of all the power-line rotor-strikes I've seen, this one ended the best because the pilot was lucky. At first, I was getting ready to ask "Where are the orange ball markers on the wires?", but it's not an airport, so they're not required there.
Edward Campbell This guy has a lot more luck going for him than you think. I worked at a power company and I know it takes very high Primary voltage to arc that much and that far. (Primary is anything over 600 volts.That was at least several 1,000 volts) God had to have been watching out for those people, the pilot sure wasn't.
you mean ZERO Situational Awareness. he should NEVER have approached that area. Poles alone should have warned him to avoid without a orbital observation first. then, the guy flapping his arms trying to keep people from getting dirty at the rotor down-wash kicking all that crap around is just stupid. Pilot was stupid also...... ITS A HELICOPTER, it is going to kick up debris! they should have made out a LZ and told the people on the ground to avoid it if they wanted to stay clean and preppy looking for a party. commit the first landing and forget what people around a LZ think, don't assume your pay will suffer because you get some irresponsible non-essential group people dirty. he had his mind in his ass and wallet.
I think the pilot understood what was about to happen. You can see the helicopter descend rapidly a split second before the rotor hit the wire. He tried to maneuver under, but to late.
Late afternoon/early evening, poor visibility, pilot was prob concentrating more on the ground than what's in front of him. Person directing him to that spot was a dick, should have seen the hazard..the pilot is a dick for not checking the landing zone first, this is why in the USA there is a program for flying in the wire zone...
Of course no one in the US crashes accidentally or through sheer stupidity, oh wait.....ua-cam.com/video/gQ32J5BWgG4/v-deo.html Why is it yanks think they are the best at everything when in fact the opposite is true.
justine turdois Statistically they're safe cause they're not IFR rated haha. No its just that almost every beginner starts in a Robinson so its more prone to mishaps
+tarence319 This was in South Africa. Walking anywhere could take days and you'd probably find bloodthirsty animals waiting to attack along the way... LOL
Robinson's are fantastic little choppers. They may not be much to look at but they've got it where it counts and are very popular training aircraft. I'm glad the pilot was able to recover being so close to the ground but I kinda think this may have looked a little worse than it actually was.
All irrelevant... As PIC he is required to steer his aircraft clear of obstacles. It's not like the wires jumped out at him, they were stationary and he piloted his craft into them. It's comparable from a legal standpoint to running into a parked car.
Ryan Powell It looks dusk to me...wires are not visible. The area where the pilot is directed too is a slope? he can't land on a slope. Logic would be that he was directed away from power lines for a better approach? Now he is looking for even ground in bad visibility. Its a series of wrong directions which was started off by some guy waving his hands around without a brain. I wonder if he turns his back and wobbles off even when its now evident that the chopper will hit the wires...I can not understand why this man waved his hand and directed the chopper. Maybe he decide he did not want the wind of the chopper and so he just motioned it away.
Dizy Tizy Just a couple days ago I flew in absolute weather minimums for US Class G airspace (1/2mi visibility, clear of clouds) during a rainy sunset in an R22 and wires were still totally visible; you just have to be looking for them. As for slope landings, they are absolutely possible! It's even one of the tests during the PPL check ride. SPECULATION: I think he initially realized that he didn't want to set down in that tall grass he was making an approach to and then he made the poor decision of following some goofy guy waving his arms around. Moral of the story, don't take landing advice from random untrained people on the ground, and a recon orbit of the landing area doesn't hurt either...
Dizy Tizy I also have flown minimal VFR and IFR. lucky enough for me when i flew my 3 birds, i had NV Sets and even one bird had both a NV and IR System. tie both in with IRNV Hybrid, you could see Corona's around the wires and Insulators like daylight. was easy for me, but i still trained for low light ops on obstruction avoidance. i was routinely in the NOE flight envelope for SAR operations. so i had to be top notch on obstruction avoidance and spotting. one SAR that IR came in really handy. a Former AF Pilot had lost his Baron in cold conditions in the GA Mountains. he had a IR Beacon. i was using the NV at first and switched to IR as temps dropped from 30's to 10's and even at one point, single digits. so i knew i would find something of a fire or a thermal signature. im scanning around with IR when my entire display lit up a FLASH on my eyes. a IR Beacon was pulsing out its Sun like signature. i got on the radio and broadcasted a Verbal IDENT request. it was him, i nicely asked him to kill that IR Beacon, i was using IR Vision and it was blinding me. he chuckled and apologized. i switched back over to NV as a precaution and advised him to put out a low light visual signal with RED light. now that was much easier to use. wound up having to hot rope a ground team in as no viable touchdown was possible. it was super heavy forest vegetation. and then winch them back in. Later a AF Blackhawk from Dobbins went in ( this was a former Colonel from Dobbins ) and retrieved part of his baron fuselage that had mostly personal stuff in it.
100% pilot error. He is in command of the aircraft (PIC) and is solely responsible for each and every event connected to that flight. He didn't follow protocol and nearly cost those people their lives. If somebody goes to jail or is fined or even loses his licence it will be him and not anybody on the ground giving directions. He's lucky he only lost his licence.
Everyone has parts of himself and parts of his time where he does errors, and parts where he does right. This pilot (and his aid on the ground, whatever his position, his sight of it, the pilot's sight of it) did an error, then handled the situation exactly as due. Most of the forumists hiding behind false names to bash him harder would probably do MORE errors than he did, and then surely NOT handle the situation as well as he did. Reckless individuals usually join in the same behaviors: - reckless behaviors and actions, thus causing MORE accidents than others - bashing the ones requesting attention and security BEFORE the accidents - inhumanly bashing the (however eventually imprudent) victims AFTER the accidents - hypocritically hiding under false names on forums (like thugs under balaclavas on the street) - irresponsibly bashing the good ones on forums I personally, no matter how afraid I would be in an helicopter piloted by this pilot, I would be even more in anything handled by those coward anonymous forumists (in 57y of driving license and 45y working in all transports I have driven a lot, at high speed when possible, piloted planes and gliders, visited or investigated the scenes of a couple air, train or bus crashes) Wed 17 Feb 2016 17:55 GMT
The Pilot was Directed to that Area so he could be forgiven for assuming it was safe,he obviously didn't see the Wires until it was too late but he still managed to make a very safe landing.I would Fly with him!
As a retired helicopter pilot after 33 years and 9800 hrs my best advice is to never ride in one unless you have no other option. The only way a helicopter will kill me now is if i am driving down the road or sitting in my living room and one drops out of the sky on top of me....
Should have expected wires (unable to be seen) between the utility poles. Ground guy directs thelicopter toward the wires? Should have known what was in the area. Rotors may not be legally used again. Very expen$ive mi$take.
Stupid. Every pilot knows that power lines are one of the biggest enemies of low flying aircraft and especially helicopter pilots should be trained to scan there environment and plan the approach detailed according to it. And trying to hover underneath power lines is just dumb and risky. They have not just responsibility for the welds but also for the passengers and the people on the ground .
So the person on the ground directing was partly responsible. Although pilot carries ultimate responsibility for assessing suitability of landing area.
That was my FIRST reaction! This would not have happened if he had landed in the direction he was flying but then dufus pointed him toward the power lines.
That's why I pay less than 5% attention to anyone directing my drive and give as much as 95%+ concentration to my view. Imagine being directed by an almost completely blind person. Don't trust people when they're giving directions; they could intentionally send you in harm's way.
+Dave Jones your absolutely right. These people are just uneducated and dumb! You got to understand some of these low life dumb country's have has on getting helicopters and staying under the FAAs radar and basically let anyone fly these things with NO LICENSES!!
Damn lucky the wires broke clean and dropped away, they could've very easily wrapped around the center of the rotors and brought the copter down sideways.
This could have been a tragedy! luckily it happened at low altitude and it was only a scare though the pilot is in big trouble for sure. In trucking there's a saying: you could do countless safe trips and no one will notice but it takes only 1 mistake to get noticed and loose your long career job.
Sam Seriös i studied electrical engineering and i can tell you wires are not put underground because of the inability to dissipate heat effectively due to the levels of insulation required. HV lines dont do well under ground.
At least they didn't fly into the 765,000 volt lines you see on the right at about 0:25 Aside from bigger arcing, the higher height and the higher gauge wire would have done a lot more damage.
There are a few rules to flying helicopters. 1. Always assume that there are wires. 2. Familiarize yourself with the LZ using available charts. 3. Do a wire recon of the LZ prior to the flight. Scouts Out!!!!!
everyone is self rightous, judgmental and perfect, right up until they make their own mistake. lots of distractions in this area, big power lines, small parked cars, people, low light, easy to see how a cumlative error could occur
I couldn't see any damage to the rotor blades, so it may be the case there was little or no damage to the 44. however stupid the move was, one thing is certain. These were extremely lucky people. that wire could have been caught up in the rotor. Then there would be pain and suffering. No need to take his licence away. There is an opportunity to learn and educate others here. I'm sure he seriously considered his own flying future.
No big deal--this was just a little schooling to go with the prom. "Hold my beer and watch this! See, this is why helicopters were invented with rotary wings so they could chop up whatever gets in their way--grass, hangars, cows, power lines, soldiers, whatever." Like riding a motorcycle without a helmet, just stay out of them and out of their way unless your life depends on it and you'll be fine. There are lots of good reasons why no one says, "I'm on my way to the parking lot to catch the afternoon copter from Johannesburg to London."
Im really pleased everyone got out ok. Unlucky to hit the cables - my instructor always taught me to fly over the pylons/poles but I guess the pilot completely missed them. This is one of the few occasions that the fire extinguisher in the R44 cockpit could have been put to use.
Not many occupants get to walk away from a wire strike. Very lucky!
because it happened to low altitude, check that the heli fell down a few meters but luckily hit the ground as rotor rpms didnt stall
A lot of people on the ground were lucky too since the rotor didn't disintegrate and send shrapnell all over the place. I also was surprised the pilot waited so long to shut the engine down.
One of the first lessons of piloting a helicopter is to always fly over poles and never between them
Very luck to have walked away from that. I know of a fellow chopper pilot who was not nearly as lucky.
4,000 hr power line helicopter pilot here........where there are roads, poles, houses, etc, etc- there ARE wires. Read the hardware on the poles- it will let you know where the wires are and where they go. This could have been so tragic!!
Dan Miller as a lineman with both distribution and helicopter assisted transmission experience, i couldnt agree more. Any pilot knows you avoid energized lines and never fly in the Right Of Way.....unless your flying a MD500 and working on them... ;-). Fly safe my friend. 2 people i trust the most with my life God and my pilot.
Cant believe that this guy tried to fly under the line. Distribution lines sagged at appropriate clearance (as seen in this video) leave little room for the tall height of the main rotor shaft of an R44. Im guessing he was not keeping his mind on what he was doing and more on the crowd he was trying to impress. First deadly error any pilot can make.
Scarier yet, all the people walking around a downed powerline so carelessly. For all they know the OCR's may not have locked out and even if they dont make direct contact, there is always step-potential. Cant believe there werent several fatalities in this event. God was sure watching over them all.
Let me tell you guys a story about these pilots we have here in good old South Africa, you will notice the insignia on the machine is Altech Netstar. They are a vehicle tracking company and that machine is used for the recovery of stolen vehicles, they get to fly around a lot, and as a result generally employ new pilots, guys with low hours and even less experience. They then fly around at speed chasing stolen cars through built up areas. I can't speak for the pilot responsible here, except for the fact that he should know better flying a vehicle tracking helicopter low hours or not! But I suspect the hype of the crowd pleasing got in the way of judgement.
I can understand them not seeing the wires, but surely the poles were a bit of a give away!
As you can see, the lines were stretching across diagonally. They weren't directly following the path of the other wires. Not sure why the wire was so low to begin with, but you can see the helicopter actually passing in front of the other main wires. I couldn't even see the small wire that made contact until after it moved, I'm guessing the pilot obviously couldn't see the wire either until it was too late.
+IntrepidGaming standard height for power line of that voltage. pilot error end of story.
Biggerbadwolf
IntrepidGaming-
A helicopter pilot should always fly over the poles, never in-between.
Common sens, do not land near power lines. That's all, the dude landed on them, that dude on the ground is an idiot and the pilot too. They had enough place to land 50-100m away, but hey.. it make to much sens.
It could have killed those under the lines too, and they couldn't care less about the fire spreading..
Big fat man "Don't land here in this safe open area, fly over by the power lines"
That’s exactly what I thought!
MegaPoxie I thought that at first but I think he was pointing him to the field on the other side of the lines away from people, which does seem like the better LZ really and it’s not an issue to fly over the lines. He flew over them and then turned back around, I wouldn’t doubt if the girl was asking him to land there near people so they’d all see her getting out of a helicopter. Obviously though the pilot should have just done whatever he wanted and not listened to all these other fuckers.
Another fat fucking wanna be boss .....
Ground guy probably didnt want dust on his Silverado.
The pilot in command is responsible for the safe operation of an aircraft. If he follows the directions of a bystander and say, hits a powerline, it is the pilot's fault.
@Chane Van Rooyen Sorry to hear about your father. From a pilot's perspective and we always critique our mistakes (it's good for future fliers and us)....experienced pilots don't look for power lines....we look for power poles because they are what you can spot. You always come in or leave over the pole because regardless where the "power line" is or whether or not you can even spot it...the power line will NEVER be higher than the pole. Very poor decision making on the pilots part, he was too distracted by all the people watching. Final judgement: PILOT ERROR.
Exactly
100%
His daughter was a jerk with her cursed word 🤮
How many hours do you have, David?
Brutal. As a pilot you should have been able to recognize the large electric line poles along the road. Always have your head on a swivel. Glad everyone is safe
Really your a pilot and you aren't aware that powerlines are literally invisible while flying?!?!?!?! due to the angles of high altitude?!?!?!?!?!
I highly doubt it buddy. Also look at the video, its clearly foggy. This is why flying low is dangerous, but he was landing.....and it looks like he is landing somewhere that isn't a normal land area, probably was told to land there.
If you're actually a pilot that fly passengers, then you would understand how fucking easy and often this happens. If you really are a pilot you only have a few years and couple fly's
@@googleanti-speech7618 yeah, power lines are invisible, that’s why you look for the goddam poles! How could you not see that?
Had the landing zone "lined up" perfectly.
Lol
Dat puns.... :D
Perfect landing :)
Nice and Stupid Pilot....
Every flight in a Robinson is a 'near death experience'.
HAHAHAHA :D
not all of them its more the people not looking or no checking the maintenance of the helicopter becuase the plades are only like a coke can wit lots of layers so they are in need in mor maintenance then cares or planes so its the teacher or the maintenance people not the poilets fualt
Correction! Every successful flight in a civilian helicopter is a near death experience.
It's such a light helicopter that it doesn't take much to bring it down.
There is no safe aircraft, all are possible to fall. You certainly don't fly, so you don't know what you're saying.
When you can see powerlines in every shot of the video, you know this isn't an ideal helicopter area
I know you might not be able to see the cables, but you see the two big wooden poles. Chances are there is something between them.
This is why a "high recon" followed by a "low recon" is done prior to landing at your LZ or landing zone. Nice save and fortunately close to ground. No one injured or killed.
Pilot got distracted by all those people watching from the ground. Even followed signaling from one of them. The pilot is the captain.
Ya can’t really tell from the video if he had done them or not
The cameraman wanted some crash footage for UA-cam, so he had his friend direct the helicopter into the wires.
Jack Frost gotta get those views. 😂
Lmao😂
THANK YOU. Finally someone with some common sense.
IFC Airwolf I cant believe you actually believe this. The dude was joking. I’m pretty sure the guy pointing was pointing to the field on the other side of the lines where there weren’t as many people. The pilot flew over the lines and then headed back in the direction where the guy pointed him away from, probably because the couple in the helicopter wanted to be dropped off near as many people as possible because they wanted everyone to see them getting out of a helicopter.
@@mcearl8073 yep just too bad I was a bit too late ti witness my self were on our way there and next moment we received a call to say about the helicopter so we going to take quite a bit long to get in. After 4-5 years I managed to fond the video
Top three rules of landing off airport: location location location. Always check twice for wires and assume all poles have wires.
*This could so easily have turned out much much worse.*
Everyone involved should be grateful that this isn't a viral video with 5 million views titled *"Low level chopper crash with detached rotors in a crowded area and severed high voltage electric cable -15 dead"*
I honestly wonder if everyone there realized how bad it could have been
that helicopter wanted to land far from the overhead lines but the guy on the ground directed it directly onto the lines.
Glad everyone got down safe! That’s the most important part. For us rotor guys...here is a good example of how incorporating a high recon on the LZ, (especially on off airport) before committing to go in. Just that added layer can keep you ahead of the surprise...even more so if there is a ground guide waveing you off or redirecting. We need to know why!
I saw a helicopter hit power lines the other day in UA-cam and now I'm on my 67th helicopter power line video.
Apparently they can't see the power lines or something. This is quite common from what I've seen.
I blame the idiot that told the pilot to fly around to the other side .
The pilot was flying VFR (aka: VISUAL FLIGHT RULES). Pilot's responsibility to avoid collisions with . . . anything!?! And why would you power back up after a rotor strike?! Shut it down and hope it doesn't disintegrate into dangerous shrapnel. Where did this guy get his flight training/certification? Sure hope he never flies around my air space.
silverss onyoutube . I just can't believe it !. It was very dangerous situation a big pilot mistake. !!!
I believe the pilot was flying too close to the powerlines
I think he thought he was gonna clear em, and that's obviously not what happened.
ryan allemand: that would be common sense but he must have been lacking in that, that day. Lol
he was directed to the other side of the wires....and his final approach put the sun right in his eyes...there were a lot of factors leading up to this close call. Glad to see no one was hurt.
"THAT WAY! THE POWER LINES ARE OVER THERE!"
"Fly over there, you say? Okay."
If I was the pilot, first thing I would have done was seek out that idiot and give him a boxing lesson.
Impressed that the Robbo blades didn't separate. Not as flimsy as some people say.
When in doubt all roads have wires...All rivers have wires..All straight lines on the landscape have wires. If you see a tower assume it has cables comming from it....I don't care if it looks like a glass smooth lot with nothing but sky around..ALWAYS do a recon before landing. And if it doesn't look good, then to hell with the guy on the ground trying to Marshall you in. You are the PIC..Number one killer of heli pilots is this right here..These guys were very lucky.
Looked like high tension line was off to the right. He can try that one next time.
Looked like they came in with the sun in their eyes. With sun glasses it makes it even harder to see the lines. The R44 has an extremely high rotor also. They were extremely lucky it snapped perfectly and it did not wrap around the rotor. Saw a video of the lines wrapping around the rotor and it slammed into the ground, everyone on board was killed.
thats south africa what surprises me is theres electricity in those cables
xD
Lmao
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You racits bastard S. Africa is not supposed to have electricity
@@David-yy7lb Poor grammar only increases the cringe factor of xenophobia. :)
it’s like “what do you have to brag about?” Lol.. not a good look.
Why would the ground crew direct him over by the power lines and why would the pilot try and fly under them?? He was on a good approach path originally no lines clear of obstructions and landed what looks to be in the same area he was headed to in the first place
So, who's the absolute genius who decided to direct a helicopter to land right next to a power line?
And what _was_ that pilot thinking, moving in there and NOT seeing the line(s) and nearby towers?
Lines can be hard to see from behind glass due to light, Haze, shadows... too many factors to name, unless we see a cockpit view then we can only assume it was an accident and not negligence (Both are different, accident is something that may happen and no one is really to blame, negligence is someone not doing what they are supposed to.)
Negligence.
@@d4rkhound388 Sure, lines are hard to see, but *POLES* are not. If you see poles, assume there is a wire between them and land somewhere else!
He saw the lines, imo, decided anyways to fly under but misjudged the distance.
Pilot şeyi düşünüyordu , pervaneyle kablo nasıl kesilir diye merak etti
And the guy walks right up to the fire where the line is still energized.
That guy acting as the ground marshall shouldn't have even pointed to the pilot to reposition to the power line area. Was he just stupid or blind?
Second Unit Aerials Unless it's another helio PILOT directing you NEVER trust anybody on the ground. I've had guys direct me yo back up coming into a tight spot and if I had I would have put my tail rotor into a bunch of bushes. The guy told me later he didn't think TRIMMING THE BUSHES A BIT WITH MY TAIL ROTOR WOULD BE A PROBLEM!!!
+DAVE YOUNGMAN LMAO, ask if the dumbass wants a shave by your rotor
+DAVE YOUNGMAN
He should not have attempted to fly under low clearance power lines. Always fly over power lines unless you have a ground guide, but PIC is always the decision maker.
Maybe he really didn't want to be at the dance, and found a way to cancel it?
Steve Rogers maybe
Damn...........This really is a near death experience.....You can't get any closer than this.
Two hours and several beers later, the pilot was heard saying "Hey. who wants to ride back with me?"
James walker 😂🤣😂
After hiting the lines Iwould have shit my pants
Only alcoholics make alcohol jokes. Might as well tell heroin jokes. Not funny at all. Go seek treatment.
And took off with half rpm and made all of Africa go dark
Jason Kotolski what the absolute fuck is your tight ass talking about?
It's all a big ego trip... arriving by helicopter for a prom or a wedding. "Ooh, look at me! I'm special!"
Pilot error, pure and simple. Those people in that thing just used their entire lifetimes supply of luck. No pilot SA, did not assess the landing area at all obviously. Should not have assumed that the people directing him on the ground had any idea what they were doing. Big mistake. Just damn lucky......
Steve Lovett i think its also a bit of ground control error too. they should have had him landing in the part of the field that didn't have electrical lines around it. the part the pilot was approaching to begin with.
Cody Davis ha they should have had a radio to warn him or wave him off.
Scary stuff.
Pilot got real lucky. If the wires had gotten tangled in the blades there would have been a different outcome.
first of all he should not have followed the hand commands of those 2 people on the ground he was coming in for a landing and should of continued. remember pilot in command has the final say.
Mj O did it for veins on a crash video
He intentionally flew into the wires
Line strikes are the biggest cause of helicopter accidents so don’t be too cavalier with your condemnation. They are very lucky to have survived that one unscathed.
"Near death experience in Robinson R44"... that's pretty much every time you go up in one.
made in muhrica!
Is it true that Robinson R44s are powered by rubber bands?
no it not been in one lots of times never done to me just the pilots or the things that are happening
If the pilot had landed where he had planned then this would not have happened. Someone motioned for him to land on the left. That time of the day and with the haze that time of the year makes it almost impossible to see wires. Pilot did very well to keep calm and land the helicopter.....a lot of pilots would have panicked and crashed.
New from Ronco, the High Voltage Line Trimmer. Guaranteed to trim tight, or double your money back.
That was actually a superb landing. Leaving aside all that "hit the power line" stuff of course.
coming back to this video now with IRL experience in the seat if it were me i would have come straight in and not followed the dude that was trying to Marshal the heli in the beginning of the video
and landed in the same area roughly but with out over flying the wires. it just shows you that complacency can kill these folks are lucky
What can be said? Obviously the pilot did not intend flying underneath the power lines. The fact of the matter is he didnt see them. This was, after all, just another accident. Power lines can be very difficult to see, and this was dusk. The fact that the chopper was pointed by one chap in another direction is fine, they simply wanted the pilot to land on the grass I suppose, where it would be less dusty. There is one person who could have done a bit more though, and that was the chap in the dark clothes who walked across the scene as the pilot came in to land. It would have been great if he pointed out the power lines to the pilot. Yup, he could have done that. It would maybe have been a good idea if the pilot had scouted the area earlier, before attempting to land at such a late hour. I am glad they got away though.
Why didn't he just land in the field he initially flew into at 00:34? Or circle through from that way? No reason to go over the wires. Heli pilot has priority over a wedding planner.
MrWolfSnack he did it for the crash video and uploaded it to UA-cam for views. It is all just set up. There’s no way when you plan out where you going to land you plane to land in wires. You don’t just land at a random field. You do hours of planning on where you takeoff and the exact place where you land.
From the perfection of some of the commentators you can guess that they dont fly, dont fly much or dont have much varied experience. Surest path to an incident is being sure of your own perfection.
whenever i land a helicopter, i ALWAYS ALWAYS check for power lines. in fact i have a notice in the cockpit saying "CHECK FOR POWERLINES"...
i dont land if i see powerlines near by...
jeremy western He should have atleast orbited once to have a look. We are trained to run through wotfeel. Wind, obstructions, turbulence, forced landing, entry, exit, and landing zone. Scan through all of those as you do atleast one orbit and stuff like this should never happen. But some "pilots" will find ways to fuck up. Not everyone was meant to fly.
Sloth55Chunk In the military, it's a high recon, followed by a low recon.
Yeah, I always check for power lines when I fly a helicopter too.
It's just sorta common sense eh?
The ironic thing is, I have never flown a helicopter.
Power lines are extremely hard to see from the air.
Who the hell told him to cross over and under the wires. The R44 has shot viability with that high rotor mask!
So much for doing a recon before landing.
It's always gotta be the R44 when something happens.
That's because cheaper helis are flown by passionate amateurs and more expensive helis are flown by professionals. The R44 falls into what I like to call the "idiot zone".
I like the two idiots walking right up to the fire and damaged lines which could pulse 3 times and fry them.
+Cris Lerose actually they discussing how to put it out one actually suggested using water
He should hover back over it and use the downdraft to blow it out.
+gingerjessy 😂
That stuff can get you from many meters away since the ground energizes
They could've landed anywhere on that empty field but they followed the teacher's direction to land in an area close to the power line. What does the teacher knows about landing a helicopter or flying in general. Also wonder if there is even an option to go higher above the power line before dropping down directly onto the desired spot. Glad it resulted in a safe landing though. That doesn't happen often after hitting a power line.
This is a very valuable video for those of us who do tours and events! It seems that the pilot was facing the sun when he made the approach to the parking lot, and the wires were obscured from his/her vision. It is also dusk, which is the time that the eyes are transitioning from day to night vision. Many automobile accidents happen at dusk also. Much more so on an unimproved landing zone with non-professional ground guides. I'm glad the crew and pax are safe!
Huge power poles! Yeah right sun blocked his view. Fricken lucky the pilot didn't kill anyone and thank God his license was pulled. Major fault of the pilot!
why did that person guide them left towards the power cables ?
Ladies and Gentlemen, Homer Simpson- your pilot.
+Donovan Moore
More like Mr. Magoo.
+Donovan Moore Bart Simpson.
+Donovan Moore No no no. It's Peter Griffin in the Petercoptor.
Ethan Deitz No not helicopter? To the Hindenpeter!!
D Moore yep
"From up there none if us could have seen the power lines, so I don’t blame the pilot at all." - Good pilots don't land where they cannot see. He is trained to spot hazards such as this if he is acting professionally. You had a HORRID pilot and are lucky to be alive.
helicopter was also overloaded judging from the muffin that got out of it.
ROFL kind of rude but also true!
Russell Der geko Wright 😂😂😂😂
LOL
LMAO
🏆
nice to see how tough the Robinson is !!!
looooooucky. I am a former helicopter mechanic and he was lucky the wire strike did not take him down.
+Lorin K I'd make that pilot buy the airframers a keg of beer, before his court appearance.
+Lorin K Not sure what you being a former helicopter mechanic has anything to do with knowing that the guy was lucky.
Nakor Z Less about physics and more about common sense. There's nothing here that requires a background in physics or aviation to tell that he got "lucky"; lucky that he wasn't flying higher or lower to start with. He just lucked out and hit the wires in such a way that not even "wire cutters" if he had them installed on the aircraft, would've made a difference. Foolish pilot. There's reason why you cross wires over the poles.
Our pave hawks had massive wire cutters on them
The pilot having committed to land was instructed to land in a different position. As a pilot you would have expected the person directing to realise they were directing the airship to a safe landing zone. If someone takes it upon themselves to direct and aircraft, they are responsible entirely. Therefore the blame lays on the shoulders of the ground crew, not the pilot. Pilots land where they are told, the assumption being those that tell them are qualified.
Poor situational awareness I think.
Lucky guy! Cat like reflexes.
Edward Campbell No, just luck. Out of all the power-line rotor-strikes I've seen, this one ended the best because the pilot was lucky. At first, I was getting ready to ask "Where are the orange ball markers on the wires?", but it's not an airport, so they're not required there.
Edward Campbell This guy has a lot more luck going for him than you think. I worked at a power company and I know it takes very high Primary voltage to arc that much and that far. (Primary is anything over 600 volts.That was at least several 1,000 volts) God had to have been watching out for those people, the pilot sure wasn't.
you mean ZERO Situational Awareness. he should NEVER have approached that area. Poles alone should have warned him to avoid without a orbital observation first.
then, the guy flapping his arms trying to keep people from getting dirty at the rotor down-wash kicking all that crap around is just stupid. Pilot was stupid also...... ITS A HELICOPTER, it is going to kick up debris! they should have made out a LZ and told the people on the ground to avoid it if they wanted to stay clean and preppy looking for a party.
commit the first landing and forget what people around a LZ think, don't assume your pay will suffer because you get some irresponsible non-essential group people dirty. he had his mind in his ass and wallet.
"Relax man, my old man is a TV repairman he's got this ultimate set of tools."
I think the pilot understood what was about to happen. You can see the helicopter descend rapidly a split second before the rotor hit the wire. He tried to maneuver under, but to late.
Yeah my thought also man. Too much too late. They can be lucky they could walk away from it.
pilot pervaneyle kablo kesme gösterisi yaptı da denebilir ama tabi ki biraz aptalca bir gösteri
I might be in minority here. But I believe the eye exam should be mandatory, when you apply for a pilot license.
Late afternoon/early evening, poor visibility, pilot was prob concentrating more on the ground than what's in front of him. Person directing him to that spot was a dick, should have seen the hazard..the pilot is a dick for not checking the landing zone first, this is why in the USA there is a program for flying in the wire zone...
Of course no one in the US crashes accidentally or through sheer stupidity, oh wait.....ua-cam.com/video/gQ32J5BWgG4/v-deo.html
Why is it yanks think they are the best at everything when in fact the opposite is true.
Wow, that R44 took that power line strike in it's stride! When I read the thumbnail, I pictured the heli crashing. Pretty amazing!
A faster forward air speed, it probably would have been a different story.
Any trip in a Robinson is a "near death experience".
Not really, Robinsons are great helicopters.
justine turdois Statistically they're safe cause they're not IFR rated haha. No its just that almost every beginner starts in a Robinson so its more prone to mishaps
He made the mistake of trusting all those morons on the ground who literally pointed him right towards the lines.
Well sweetie, the dance is over. You ready to fly back home?
No thanks,...I'll walk!!!
+tarence319 This was in South Africa. Walking anywhere could take days and you'd probably find bloodthirsty animals waiting to attack along the way... LOL
tall32guy id take my chances and walk before id fly with that idiot
tarence319 I'd rather fly the helicopter my self back home
Robinson's are fantastic little choppers. They may not be much to look at but they've got it where it counts and are very popular training aircraft. I'm glad the pilot was able to recover being so close to the ground but I kinda think this may have looked a little worse than it actually was.
Who directed the pilot to land under electrical wires??? Where is his landing spot, why isn't it marked?
All irrelevant... As PIC he is required to steer his aircraft clear of obstacles. It's not like the wires jumped out at him, they were stationary and he piloted his craft into them. It's comparable from a legal standpoint to running into a parked car.
Ryan Powell It looks dusk to me...wires are not visible. The area where the pilot is directed too is a slope? he can't land on a slope. Logic would be that he was directed away from power lines for a better approach? Now he is looking for even ground in bad visibility. Its a series of wrong directions which was started off by some guy waving his hands around without a brain. I wonder if he turns his back and wobbles off even when its now evident that the chopper will hit the wires...I can not understand why this man waved his hand and directed the chopper. Maybe he decide he did not want the wind of the chopper and so he just motioned it away.
Dizy Tizy Just a couple days ago I flew in absolute weather minimums for US Class G airspace (1/2mi visibility, clear of clouds) during a rainy sunset in an R22 and wires were still totally visible; you just have to be looking for them. As for slope landings, they are absolutely possible! It's even one of the tests during the PPL check ride. SPECULATION: I think he initially realized that he didn't want to set down in that tall grass he was making an approach to and then he made the poor decision of following some goofy guy waving his arms around. Moral of the story, don't take landing advice from random untrained people on the ground, and a recon orbit of the landing area doesn't hurt either...
Dizy Tizy
nope, even if he didn't see the wires, THOSE FAT ASS POLES should have told him. and that idiot on the ground.... slap him up side the head.
Dizy Tizy
I also have flown minimal VFR and IFR. lucky enough for me when i flew my 3 birds, i had NV Sets and even one bird had both a NV and IR System. tie both in with IRNV Hybrid, you could see Corona's around the wires and Insulators like daylight. was easy for me, but i still trained for low light ops on obstruction avoidance. i was routinely in the NOE flight envelope for SAR operations. so i had to be top notch on obstruction avoidance and spotting.
one SAR that IR came in really handy. a Former AF Pilot had lost his Baron in cold conditions in the GA Mountains. he had a IR Beacon. i was using the NV at first and switched to IR as temps dropped from 30's to 10's and even at one point, single digits. so i knew i would find something of a fire or a thermal signature. im scanning around with IR when my entire display lit up a FLASH on my eyes. a IR Beacon was pulsing out its Sun like signature. i got on the radio and broadcasted a Verbal IDENT request. it was him, i nicely asked him to kill that IR Beacon, i was using IR Vision and it was blinding me. he chuckled and apologized. i switched back over to NV as a precaution and advised him to put out a low light visual signal with RED light. now that was much easier to use. wound up having to hot rope a ground team in as no viable touchdown was possible. it was super heavy forest vegetation. and then winch them back in. Later a AF Blackhawk from Dobbins went in ( this was a former Colonel from Dobbins ) and retrieved part of his baron fuselage that had mostly personal stuff in it.
100% pilot error. He is in command of the aircraft (PIC) and is solely responsible for each and every event connected to that flight. He didn't follow protocol and nearly cost those people their lives. If somebody goes to jail or is fined or even loses his licence it will be him and not anybody on the ground giving directions. He's lucky he only lost his licence.
Take off will be delayed as pilots go to portajohn.
Be thankful these kids and the pilot came off it with their lives ... yet an event I'm sure they will always remember :-)
Everyone has parts of himself and parts of his time where he does errors, and parts where he does right.
This pilot (and his aid on the ground, whatever his position, his sight of it, the pilot's sight of it) did an error, then handled the situation exactly as due.
Most of the forumists hiding behind false names to bash him harder would probably do MORE errors than he did, and then surely NOT handle the situation as well as he did.
Reckless individuals usually join in the same behaviors:
- reckless behaviors and actions, thus causing MORE accidents than others
- bashing the ones requesting attention and security BEFORE the accidents
- inhumanly bashing the (however eventually imprudent) victims AFTER the accidents
- hypocritically hiding under false names on forums (like thugs under balaclavas on the street)
- irresponsibly bashing the good ones on forums
I personally, no matter how afraid I would be in an helicopter piloted by this pilot, I would be even more in anything handled by those coward anonymous forumists
(in 57y of driving license and 45y working in all transports I have driven a lot, at high speed when possible, piloted planes and gliders, visited or investigated the scenes of a couple air, train or bus crashes)
Wed 17 Feb 2016 17:55 GMT
You're the pilot, aren't you? Hahahaha!!!
+Steve Rogers Probably is the pilot Lol.
The Pilot was Directed to that Area so he could be forgiven for assuming it was safe,he obviously didn't see the Wires until it was too late but he still managed to make a very safe landing.I would Fly with him!
You fly with him you die with him. No one's fault but the pilot. The pilot is always responsible no matter what he is told, even by real controllers.
@@mikecunningham7621 Fair Statement.
**helicopter pilots*: all aboard the facepalm train.
Your supposed to fly **over** the wires not through them.
As a retired helicopter pilot after 33 years and 9800 hrs my best advice is to never ride in one unless you have no other option.
The only way a helicopter will kill me now is if i am driving down the road or sitting in my living room and one drops out of the sky on top of me....
Should have expected wires (unable to be seen) between the utility poles.
Ground guy directs thelicopter toward the wires? Should have known what was in the area.
Rotors may not be legally used again. Very expen$ive mi$take.
R44 blades used low hours run about $10k each.
I wonder if this pilot lost his license. This should be a "that was cute, you can buy a ticket the next time you fly" deal.
Stupid. Every pilot knows that power lines are one of the biggest enemies of low flying aircraft and especially helicopter pilots should be trained to scan there environment and plan the approach detailed according to it. And trying to hover underneath power lines is just dumb and risky. They have not just responsibility for the welds but also for the passengers and the people on the ground .
Themselves *
He was flying an R-44 the Ford Fiesta of the rotorcraft world "wait, that's the R-22
Lol! It seems to be the trend now for people to use position descriptor in place of possessive pronouns. More education is needed. Nice catch, Corn!!
I should of known you wood say that.
@ Southrmead Lad Yeah, you should "of" known, Lad, more "then" anyone. That helo must be right now in a repair "hanger".
2 fold, that little chopper is TOUGH and kudos to the pilot who held that little twirler quite well.
So the person on the ground directing was partly responsible. Although pilot carries ultimate responsibility for assessing suitability of landing area.
That was my FIRST reaction! This would not have happened if he had landed in the direction he was flying but then dufus pointed him toward the power lines.
That's why I pay less than 5% attention to anyone directing my drive and give as much as 95%+ concentration to my view. Imagine being directed by an almost completely blind person. Don't trust people when they're giving directions; they could intentionally send you in harm's way.
+Dave Jones your absolutely right. These people are just uneducated and dumb! You got to understand some of these low life dumb country's have has on getting helicopters and staying under the FAAs radar and basically let anyone fly these things with NO LICENSES!!
I'm sorry I meant they have was on getting helicopter under the FAA not knowing
Damn lucky the wires broke clean and dropped away, they could've very easily wrapped around the center of the rotors and brought the copter down sideways.
0:30 who's the man that directed the helicopter toward the power lines? Boy, I bet he feels like an ass.
typical know it all teacher like he was directing cars where to park..
This could have been a tragedy! luckily it happened at low altitude and it was only a scare though the pilot is in big trouble for sure. In trucking there's a saying: you could do countless safe trips and no one will notice but it takes only 1 mistake to get noticed and loose your long career job.
There is a reason why we have mostly underground wires in Germany..
Some pilots are so stupid, they would manage to hit them too.
Sam Seriös i studied electrical engineering and i can tell you wires are not put underground because of the inability to dissipate heat effectively due to the levels of insulation required. HV lines dont do well under ground.
In South Africa underground wires get stolen by hooligans.
At least they didn't fly into the 765,000 volt lines you see on the right at about 0:25 Aside from bigger arcing, the higher height and the higher gauge wire would have done a lot more damage.
Why does this make laugh?! XD
No seriously, it's so funny... they had so much space and yet they managed to hit the smallest thing around... XD
'Ok guys, we got to make a quick stop here, I've got to recharge the chopper..'
Hero to zero happens surprisingly quickly.
Pilots decision to take landing instructions from a high school teacher was shocking
pilot needed some sense zapped into him..
Am I the only one that thinks the reaction is like “no biggie”
There are a few rules to flying helicopters.
1. Always assume that there are wires.
2. Familiarize yourself with the LZ using available charts.
3. Do a wire recon of the LZ prior to the flight.
Scouts Out!!!!!
What a stupid pilot! Always watch your surroundings!😡😡
everyone is self rightous, judgmental and perfect, right up until they make their own mistake.
lots of distractions in this area, big power lines, small parked cars, people, low light, easy to see how a cumlative error could occur
Well recovered though....phew! I also agree he should not have listened to the guy on the ground but landed as the approach first indicated.
I couldn't see any damage to the rotor blades, so it may be the case there was little or no damage to the 44. however stupid the move was, one thing is certain. These were extremely lucky people. that wire could have been caught up in the rotor. Then there would be pain and suffering. No need to take his licence away. There is an opportunity to learn and educate others here. I'm sure he seriously considered his own flying future.
No big deal--this was just a little schooling to go with the prom. "Hold my beer and watch this! See, this is why helicopters were invented with rotary wings so they could chop up whatever gets in their way--grass, hangars, cows, power lines, soldiers, whatever." Like riding a motorcycle without a helmet, just stay out of them and out of their way unless your life depends on it and you'll be fine. There are lots of good reasons why no one says, "I'm on my way to the parking lot to catch the afternoon copter from Johannesburg to London."
R44 Robinson is one of my favorite helicopters.
Im really pleased everyone got out ok. Unlucky to hit the cables - my instructor always taught me to fly over the pylons/poles but I guess the pilot completely missed them. This is one of the few occasions that the fire extinguisher in the R44 cockpit could have been put to use.
helluva an entrance.
no charge for the pyrotechnics..
Now THAT is how you define incompetence.