Why I only fly over water in twin turbines with floats

[kiwigeo]

I would say these guys survived probably because they were both flyers and the guy flying the machine designed and built same. If there'd have been fare paying customers on board the outcome might have been different. Note how the machine turned on its side as soon as it hit the water. Choppers are top heavy and nearly always turn turtle.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8641791 ... pter-crash

[kiwigeo]

Turns out both these flyers had done helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET). Increases your chances of surviving a water ditching by around 90%. A mandatory requirement for me and others working offshore in the oil and gas game.

[charangohabsburg]

[...] the navy boat came round the corner and asked them if they would like a lift.

Polite people I'd say.

[needsmorecowbel]

bloody well flown...

[kiwigeo]

bloody well flown...

I'd say it was a test flight. They had a second chopper flying above them (had the camera on board) so I imagine a crash was a faint possibility in the back of their minds from the moment they took off.

They were in the middle of a busy harbour with a navy base not far away. When I go flying I'm up to 400km from land. By the time they get the rescue chopper fuelled up (chopper is never fully fuelled) and mobilised from Truscott or Broome I will have been in the water for a couple of hours.

[Nick]

Good testament to the design though, they had some footage on last night's news of the recovery after it had dropped 30 meters to the sea bed and the chopper was fully intact except for one of the rotor blades had developed a bit of a bannana shape.
Turns out that the chopper was actually designed by the "passenger" and was piloted by the company's owner, this particular chopper (they have more built) had 200 hours of flight time on it and was due to give a demo flight overseas, this particular flight was just to grab a few promo shots (hence the second chopper) for the demo. Sounds like they had a turbine failure hence the ditch.

[Kamusur]

Sad fact of the matter is Martin that just like a lot of boats, helicopters when upside down in water are much more stable.

Steve