Auckland Heli Crash Preliminary Report

Sterling Archer

The spectacular helicopter crash on Auckland's Viaduct was caused by a rigging supervisor jumping to grab a cable from the bottom of the helicopter, causing it to tighten and touch the aircraft's rotor blade.

Pilot Greg Gribble walked away from the accident, which happened as he was helping erect the Telecom Christmas tree in downtown Auckland on November 23.

The Civil Aviation Authority released its preliminary findings today which said "massive out of balance forces tore through" the helicopter after it struck the lifting line which was attached to the bottom of the helicopter and the top of a nearby tower.

"After raising the tower, the helicopter descended to hover at about 5m so the lifting line could be detached from its hook by the rigging superviser on the ground," it said.

"When the rigging supervisor jumped up to grab the line, it instantly tightened and touched the helicopter's main rotor blades. The force of the impact caused major structural damage and the aircraft hit the ground."

The investigation is continuing with a focus on the pre-flight safety briefings, the pilot's experience and training, health and safety aspects, potential preventative measures that could have been used, and the identification of human factors that apply to this accident.

The full findings could take up to 12 months

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6167341/Cable-caused-chopper-crash-report-finds

pclancy

Wow do you live in NZ or read stuff.co.nz a lot? That just came out an hour ago!

Good to read it wasnt the pilots fault at least.

Sterling Archer

pclancy wrote: »

Wow do you live in NZ or read stuff.co.nz a lot? That just came out an hour ago!

Good to read it wasnt the pilots fault at least.

Google Ads haha... ya i watched the vids again mainly this one and at 0:18 you see the guy grab the cable

pclancy

He's very lucky he wasnt torn to bits by that rotor or cable.

FarmerGreen

Oops, careless.
Should have shut the engine down, that would have been class.
Pchow splat, sudden isnt it.

Ah, Henry, nice to see you again. You arrived by taxi.
Remember that nice shiney new helicopter you signed out?
The one that cost 5 million. Where is it?

(Shame, social embarresment, culpable foolishness. Just dont say it wasnt your fault.)
Emmm, sorry chief, totally destroyed it. Sorry.
>Go away.

irlrobins

When the rigging supervisor jumped up to grab the line, it instantly tightened and touched the helicopter's main rotor blades.

How does a line that's under the belly of the chopper hit the main rotor blades?

Sterling Archer

irlrobins wrote: »

How does a line that's under the belly of the chopper hit the main rotor blades?

see the pic in the article
Edit: There you go \/\/\/

But if you don't want to, the line was connected the the bottom of the heli, and to a 25m high tower, left in the slack position it was harmless but once the supervisor pulled on the cable, it wet from slack to taut it connected with the rotors

Klunk001

FarmerGreen wrote: »

Oops, careless.
Should have shut the engine down, that would have been class.

It's all over in the blink of an eye. Harder to do when the seat your attached to, detaches from the floor with both you and the seat ending up in the back of the cabin on your back. All involved had a very lucky escape.

Su Campu

I still cannot get over how thick and stupid all involved were. I don't care what anyone says, a simple risk analysis would see that this was a total no-no. The pilot should have seen it, and so should the guy on the ground. What about the other guys standing there watching? If anyone had thought it through beforehand, like in the picture above, then we wouldn't be here talking about it.

It's just lucky nobody was seriously hurt.

mickdw

Id have to agree. Line couldnt have been far from the blades before guy touched it as one guy catching a heavy lifting line wouldnt immediately result in it being pulled completely straight. He would have had only minor effect on the line specially in the fraction of a second from when he catches it to when the accident began.