Police helicopter crashes in Atlanta, kills two officers - Polidicks

[url]http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt-usa-atlantahelicopter-update-1l1e8m407k-20121103,0,5376074.story[/url] [quote=Chicago Tribune via Reuters]An Atlanta police helicopter scouring the city in a search for a missing 9-year-old child crashed on Saturday night, killing two police officers, police said. "One of our helicopters went down and two officers were killed," police spokesman Carlos Campos said without elaborating. No other injuries were reported. A local NBC affiliate quoted witnesses as saying the helicopter had been flying low and clipped power lines before the crash, causing an outage. Police chief George Turner said that the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating. [/quote]

Sad for the loss of the two officers, but I have to wonder what they were doing flying so low...most police helicopters are equipped with spotlights and high zoom cameras with infrared so they can get a closer look at things from a safer altitude.

Right near where a bud of mine lives and where I used to live. He said it was loud as fuck.

:(

Heard about this on the local news. They originally thought the helicopter was participating in a practice emergency drill that was happening nearby.

my dad is scared that its one of his friends that was in the crash :s

Flying low enough to clip power lines? Seriously? The pilot deserves this death, not so much the others though.

I feel sorry for the kid actualy, imagine having to live your future life thinking you caused the death of 2 police officers by running away/hiding/staying out too long. Unless the kid was kidnapped or got lost, which is bad.

[QUOTE=Catdaemon;38311490]Flying low enough to clip power lines? Seriously? The pilot deserves this death, not so much the others though.[/QUOTE] No one deserves death you fuck. A helicopter got low to search for a small 4-5 foot object that could have been anywhere in a 20 mile radius. Try flying sometime, it isn't FSX levels of easy.

[QUOTE=Zambies!;38311995]No one deserves death you fuck. A helicopter got low to search for a small 4-5 foot object that could have been anywhere in a 20 mile radius. Try flying sometime, it isn't FSX levels of easy.[/QUOTE] That's precisely why you should't fly so low. In the UK at least our police helicopters stay really, really high up and have massive zoom lenses for this purpose. I remember reading about someone getting in trouble for flying one too low. There is no reason to fly a helicopter that low, ever, unless you're landing.

[QUOTE=Catdaemon;38312039]That's precisely why you should't fly so low. In the UK at least our police helicopters stay really, really high up and have massive zoom lenses for this purpose. I remember reading about someone getting in trouble for flying one too low. There is no reason to fly a helicopter that low, ever, unless you're landing.[/QUOTE] Well all this could have been avoided if only you'd been there to fly it rather than the trained helicopter pilot

[QUOTE=Catdaemon;38312039]That's precisely why you should't fly so low. In the UK at least our police helicopters stay really, really high up and have massive zoom lenses for this purpose. I remember reading about someone getting in trouble for flying one too low. There is no reason to fly a helicopter that low, ever, unless you're landing.[/QUOTE] And they deserve death for flying low because someone on the internet said so.

[QUOTE=Fergeh;38312053]Well all this could have been avoided if only you'd been there to fly it rather than the trained helicopter pilot[/QUOTE] Ah yes of course, I cannot criticise the actions of a helicopter pilot because I can't fly a helicopter.

[QUOTE=Catdaemon;38312068]Ah yes of course, I cannot criticise the actions of a helicopter pilot because I can't fly a helicopter.[/QUOTE] glad you understand

[QUOTE=Catdaemon;38311490]Flying low enough to clip power lines? Seriously? The pilot deserves this death, not so much the others though.[/QUOTE] Sometimes low flying is standard procedure. It's what helicopters are built for, you know. Don't talk out of your ass without really knowing how it works.

[QUOTE=Catdaemon;38312068]Ah yes of course, I cannot criticise the actions of a helicopter pilot because I can't fly a helicopter.[/QUOTE] No, I don't think you understand Police and Heli procedures that you might need to be low, a massive zoom camera is not a good idea because it severely limits the area around, making it so you must be much more meticulous and time wasting while a life is at stake.

[QUOTE=Catdaemon;38312068]Ah yes of course, I cannot criticise the actions of a helicopter pilot because I can't fly a helicopter.[/QUOTE] This, pretty much. You frankly don't know shit about the way helicopters are professionally flown, so you should keep your idiocy from showing by by running your mouth.

[QUOTE=Catdaemon;38312068]Ah yes of course, I cannot criticise the actions of a helicopter pilot because I can't fly a helicopter.[/QUOTE] being a future helicopter pilot myself I'll be glad to tell you what a fucking moron you are they're looking for a 9 year old girl in an urban area, probably with a lot of trees. a picture of a standard suburb in atlanta: [img]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/38/113469820_f2756bcfa2.jpg[/img] high zoom-high contrast cameras don't like looking through tree leaves very much (the image becomes very, very hard to make out, and if you're looking for something that's possibly moving, take into account how much the lens vibrates from being not only attached to the helicopter but zoomed in enough to see a child from whatever you consider "safe" altitude, generally considered to be around a thousand feet), so i'm sure they were flying fairly low with the spotlight on and either looking with their eyeballs or through binoculars. most of the time this would be safe; power lines don't usually reach very high, but there's shit like this: [img]http://www.altermedicine.org/images/power%20lines.jpg[/img] those can be hard to see at night when your eyes are adjusted for looking into the spotlight's beam, because they're typically unlit and dark colored, anyway. moreover, the helicopter was in all likelihood a bell jetranger (favored by police departments), which is equipped with a WSPS (wire strike protection system), essentially a series of giant knives designed to cut high tension wires in case of a strike and minimize damage to the aircraft. this system evidently never came into play, which indicates to me that the lines were unlit and unseen by the pilot. the pilot did everything right; high tension wires need to be lit. here's a simple diagram of a jetranger's WSPS: [img]http://i.imgur.com/0s3lr.gif[/img]

[QUOTE=teh pirate;38312941]the pilot did everything right; high tension wires need to be lit.[/QUOTE] thank you, someone gets it

[QUOTE=teh pirate;38312941]-snip-[/QUOTE] Very good post.

[QUOTE=teh pirate;38312941]being a future helicopter pilot myself ...[/QUOTE] I know this isn't strictly related, but how much does it cost to learn? Because there's little I want to do more than fly helos.

it depends on where you go, but usually around 10-15k for a PPL. the flight lessons are pretty costly per-hour (around $190) and you need a minimum of 20 hours with an instructor and 10 by yourself, but most people end up with 30-35 hours with an instructor, unless you happen to be really good at it and the instructor is comfortable letting you fly on your own after only 20 hours. for a commercial license you are going to need 150 hours minimum on your PPL, with 100 of those as the pilot in command, and then an extra $20-25,000 it definitely isn't cheap, but there are actually scholarships for groups like gay black men and poor mexican women (they're really specific)

They should just start using UAV's, they're cheaper to maintain and easier to use.

PIC hours are just any hours you have flying the helicopter, that includes while under instruction e: above poster is a DICK >:(

No I'm not, they're more stable platforms that require less fuel, less maintenance, don't need to pay for a high-balling pilot since the cops can operate them themselves, there isn't a risk of life and they likely have military grade cameras.

he meant you broke his automerge.

[QUOTE=laserguided;38313336]No I'm not, they're more stable platforms that require less fuel, less maintenance, don't need to pay for a high-balling pilot since the cops can operate them themselves, there isn't a risk of life and they likely have military grade cameras.[/QUOTE] The difference is that drone cameras don't have peripheral vision, which I could argue is very important in Search and Rescue. And Wide-angle camera lenses don't pick up enough detail - Sometimes, nothing can beat the classic Mk1 Eyeball.

[QUOTE=archangel125;38313764]The difference is that drone cameras don't have peripheral vision, which I could argue is very important in Search and Rescue. And Wide-angle camera lenses don't pick up enough detail - Sometimes, nothing can beat the classic Mk1 Eyeball.[/QUOTE] The cameras installed on modern UAV's are very powerful, you could just fly higher. Plus Mk.1 Eyeballs don't have FLIR capability.

Guys. I saw where it crashed. It was in the middle of a small fucking city, like slap ass in the middle of that bitch's juicy juice, not an area with a shit ton of trees. Two people are dead, thoughts and prayers out to their families.

I believe police helicopters crash pretty frequently because their pilots are usually just ordinary police officers with much less helicopter training than ordinary pilots.