Up Close Helicopter Crash. - Polidicks

It's funny that these things are fitted with WSPS (wire strike prevention system) standard, but it didn't seem to help at all here. I guess WSPS is designed to deal with wires under tension such as power lines, not loose hanging cables, but you'd imagine as fast as the rotors spin they'd have little trouble with lonely bits of wire. Almost surreal how vulnerable they are.

Must be pretty weak if the back can break off in a second just like that.

[QUOTE=gamerman345;33419964]Must be pretty weak if the back can break off in a second just like that.[/QUOTE] Being unable to physically sustain a sudden massive jolt of incredible energy does not make it weak. Helicopters are pretty much all really remarkable, even when it comes to safety.

[QUOTE=aznz888;33417200]They're fairly fragile machines. All aircraft are. One simple mistake, whether it's a cable in the rotor or a pebble in a turbine, could lead to catastrophic failure of the whole mechanism. This is rather one of the extreme examples since helicopters completely rely on the force generated by the rotor; in this case, the force that could lift a 3000 pound helicopter up was used to bring it down.[/QUOTE] Could doesn't mean will. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMIkk-ZqUzM[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RafoUW3XfSk[/media] Anyways though, I can imagine how terrifying that was for all of the people involved.

[QUOTE=UncleJimmema;33419393]Its not that they're super fragile. The motor has so much torque that when the main prop no longer had resistance from the air the drive shaft for the tail rotor spun with a lot more force and ripped the tail in half.[/QUOTE] That's not what happened. When it hit the cable it caused the drive shaft and rotor blades to misalign. Nothing good happens when an object with high momentum gets offset at high speed. The helicopter shakes so fast that the long tale cannot stand the high accelerations back and forth, because its so long and probably couple hundred kilos. It would have to be incredibly strong to withstand that. Try rotating a four meter long heavy bar by holding it from the end with an axis. You need a shitton of force to do that. However it's true the engine no longer had resistance, but that only caused the engine to go to really high RPM. That caused the whistle. tl;dr kinda what happens here, except the spinning part is not near the center of mass. [media][URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=364dzVsBs2o[/URL][/media]

Notice the guy at :35 push the other guy out of the way.

[QUOTE=scotland1;33418228]Helicopters are extremely fragile as they are made to be so light. The sudden jolt was more than enough to break it.[/QUOTE] Helicopters are also made with crumple zones, so that when they crash, you have a better chance of surviving, because when shit goes south in a helicopter, you can't get out, you just have to brace for impact. Unless of course, you are a certain helicopter that shoots its rotor blades away from the craft before firing you out with an ejector seat, like the Kamov Ka-50 Hokum.

[QUOTE=Maucer;33421619]That's not what happened. When it hit the cable it caused the drive shaft and rotor blades to misalign. Nothing good happens when an object with high momentum gets offset at high speed. The helicopter shakes so fast that the long tale cannot stand the high accelerations back and forth, because its so long and probably couple hundred kilos. It would have to be incredibly strong to withstand that. Try rotating a four meter long heavy bar by holding it from the end with an axis. You need a shitton of force to do that. However it's true the engine no longer had resistance, but that only caused the engine to go to really high RPM. That caused the whistle. tl;dr kinda what happens here, except the spinning part is not near the center of mass. [media][URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=364dzVsBs2o[/URL][/media][/QUOTE] That's still true to what I said, you just went into detail with it. The high speed and torque of the driveshaft caused one of the joints to fail.

Oh, I misunderstood what you said. Sorry about that. BTW the guy who pulled down the cable was extremely lucky. The 2nd blade hit the ground right next to him and looks like the choppers tail knocked him over.

Kind of annoying how something as pointless as a giant Christmas tree almost cost the pilot his life.

Meh, that happens to me all the time. The worst part is is finding a new one, and getting rid of the stars caused by accidental beheading and crushing of citizens.

I noticed the guy who was fucking with the rope on my own and I was like "Wow, I hope it lands on him." I was particularly disappointed when I noticed he did not get hurt. Seriously, that was surreal. The sound and how fast it happened. Never trust those airborne bags of death.

[QUOTE=Kung Fu Jew;33422901]I noticed the guy who was fucking with the rope on my own and I was like "Wow, I hope it lands on him." I was particularly disappointed when I noticed he did not get hurt. Seriously, that was surreal. The sound and how fast it happened. Never trust those airborne bags of death.[/QUOTE] Hey, I worked and flew in those airborn bags of death. I'm still here. It's called common sense, if that is followed then you're all good.

[QUOTE=Ylsid;33417731]Did anyone else think the sound of the rotors hitting the wire sounded like a headshot in CS?[/QUOTE] Oh god I hear it now.

If the helicopter kept going lower it looks like the cable would've hit the blades any way. What they were doing in the first place is wrong, whether or not that guy was tugging on the wire.

This makes me want to join the army for some odd reason. Probably since my friend is in benning, training to be an army ranger.

[QUOTE=TheDestroyerOfall;33423518]This makes me want to join the army for some odd reason. Probably since my friend is in benning, training to be an army ranger.[/QUOTE] Did you post in the wrong thread? I don't understand.

[QUOTE=TheDestroyerOfall;33423518]This makes me want to join the army for some odd reason. Probably since my friend is in benning, training to be an army ranger.[/QUOTE] Yes, my son. Go, fight those evil cables terrorising our innocent helicopters!

[QUOTE=Kung Fu Jew;33422901]I noticed the guy who was fucking with the rope on my own and I was like "Wow, I hope it lands on him." I was particularly disappointed when I noticed he did not get hurt. Seriously, that was surreal. The sound and how fast it happened. Never trust those airborne bags of death.[/QUOTE] Helicopters are perfectly safe. It was an accident, shit happens. When the BBC mentioned this the other day they mentioned quite a few times that the people doing it do it every year so its not like the guy holding the wire was an idiot.

[QUOTE=teslacoil;33424114]Did you post in the wrong thread? I don't understand.[/QUOTE] No, He's in Airborne recovery. So like he goes and gets crashed pilots and all. It just showed me how bad someone could be hurt, and how bad i would want to help is all.

[QUOTE=TheDestroyerOfall;33425160]No, He's in Airborne recovery. So like he goes and gets crashed pilots and all. It just showed me how bad someone could be hurt, and how bad i would want to help is all.[/QUOTE] Join your local EMT, they could probably use some help.

The fact that no one died is a testament to how well the safety features in the helicopter were designed.

[QUOTE=squids_eye;33425241]The fact that no one died is a testament to how well the safety features in the helicopter were designed.[/QUOTE] I think its more sheer luck in this case in my opinion. He nearly fell out, its only by luck he didn't. Mind you, the fact it didn't just rip itself in half and explode in a ball of flames is a prime example the safety features. I have never seen a helicopter do that (outside of a film that is), I didn't think it would be so violent to be honest.

[QUOTE=Jsm;33425298]I think its more sheer luck in this case in my opinion. He nearly fell out, its only by luck he didn't. Mind you, the fact it didn't just rip itself in half and explode in a ball of flames is a prime example the safety features. I have never seen a helicopter do that (outside of a film that is), I didn't think it would be so violent to be honest.[/QUOTE] For a helicopter crash, it was almost nothing. Helicopters are meant to crash like that to reduce injury to the pilots.

[QUOTE=PenguinKris;33417149]Helicopters seem so delicate.[/QUOTE] They are, even something as light as a stamp if placed on the helicopter blades can unbalance it.

To the people blaming the black shirt guy. The guy in the black shirt wasn't there to hold the cable away, he was trying to disconnect the line from the bottom of the helicopter. The quick release probably jammed and the pilot brought the chopper closer to the ground so the guy could pull on the cable to release it, accidentally tightening up the rotor side making it slam into the rotor. It isn't anyone's fault.

[QUOTE=Dlaor-guy;33418154]It's weird that the tail suddenly breaks off while the helicopter is still in the air...[/QUOTE] The tail is just to contain the drive axle going to the tail rotor. Once that got jammed up in the cable, the torque broke the axle.

[QUOTE=teslacoil;33425186]Join your local EMT, they could probably use some help.[/QUOTE] EMT deals with a lot of messed up things, I already have nightmares so i don't think i need that, i have however been put in situations like the army offers. so possibly.

[QUOTE=scotland1;33418135]Camera man has balls of steel for not running.[/QUOTE] Camera man is the guy running past the camera at around :33. He was recording another angle because he thought the cable was looking bad.

The first time I watched the video, I thought the copter had pretty much cut itself in two with that wire getting stuck in the rotor. Then I saw it was really the jolt that broke the tail off. Wow. I did not expect those machines to be so fragile.