Posted: 19 May 2007, 17:10
No, it was an intentional departure. On a ship, you take off at the crest so that the ship is falling away under you as you climb, helping to increase the distance between both helicopter and ship as much as possible in as short a time as possible. As was said before, something caught the skid and when it let go, the aircraft lurched forward towards the ship's superstructure, the pilot then hauled back on the stick to keep from hitting the ship and ended up hitting his tail rotor on the deck instead. He was lucky to get it down as fast as he did as was said before, the tail rotor was definitely totaled and was not working properly after the impact, so he didn't have much time to get down before the aircraft went totally out of control.
I'm looking to see if I can find an accident report for this. The aircraft is N480KP, reported to be owned by Eastern Atlantic Helicopters at the time. Let you know if I find anything more as the NTSB database has nothing on it.
I'm looking to see if I can find an accident report for this. The aircraft is N480KP, reported to be owned by Eastern Atlantic Helicopters at the time. Let you know if I find anything more as the NTSB database has nothing on it.