Helicopter ditches in East River in NYC....

[A930Rocket]

They say that a passengers bag may have hit the fuel shut off valve. Where is that located that a passenger would hit it?

Video appears to show final moments before helicopter crashed into NYC's East River | Fox News




Helicopter crash in Manhattan's East River kills all 5 passengers. Pilot is the lone survivor.

A chilling Instagram video taken by one of the victims of the East River helicopter crash captures the final moments before the chopper plunged into the New York City waterway, killing five of the six people aboard.

Fox News has identified the victims as Trevor Cadigan, 26, of Dallas, Carla Vallejos-Blanco, a 29-year old visiting the city from Argentina, Brian McDaniel, a 26-year-old Dallas firefighter, Daniel Thompson, a 34-year-old from New York City, and 29-year-old Tristian Hill.

The video was taken by Cadigan, a video journalist, according to his brother-in-law Travis Howard, who spoke to the Washington Post.

One of the men in the video is seen flashing a thumbs up as the helicopter took off amidst the sunset Sunday.

The video surfaced as investigators were looking into whether one of the passenger’s bags may have accidentally hit the fuel shutoff button of the doomed helicopter. The helicopter was removed from the river on Monday afternoon.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday,” Richard Vance, the 33-year-old Liberty Helicopters pilot, called out over his radio seconds before going down in the crash a day earlier. “East River engine failure!”

The group of five passengers were on the private Eurocopter AS350 for a photo shoot when it crashed.

The cause of the crash is not yet known, but National Transportation Safety Board investigators are expected to provide an update at 4:30 p.m. local time.

Sunday's crash is reportedly the third in the past 11 years involving Liberty Helicopters, a company based in Kearny, N.J.

"It took a while for the divers to get these people out. They worked very quickly as fast as they could," Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. "It was a great tragedy that we had here."

The passengers were recovered shortly after the helicopter went into the water around 7:06 p.m. Police and fire department divers had to remove them from tight harnesses while they were upside down, Nigro added.

Three of the passengers were listed in critical condition after being rushed to nearby hospitals, where they later died. Two were declared dead at the scene and police said the pilot freed himself and was rescued by a passing tugboat.

Officials said the water Sunday night was frigid, with temperatures around 40 degrees.

The pilot of the helicopter, Richard Vance, after emerging from the frigid waters of New York City's East River on Sunday night. (Courtesy New York Post)

Video posted on Twitter of the crash showed a red helicopter land hard in the river and then flip on its side as its rotors beat the water.

Police sources told the New York Post the helicopter was being flown by Vance, a native of Danbury, Conn.

“He’s a very good pilot,” his father, Anthony Vance, told the newspaper, adding Richard has flown “a lot of years” with a commercial pilot’s license.

A LinkedIn page purportedly belonging to Vance said he has been employed by Liberty Helicopters since April 2016.

"We are focused on supporting the families affected by this tragic accident and fully cooperating with the FAA and NTSB investigations," Liberty Helicopters told Fox News in a statement.

The company says on its website it has been in business since 1990 and offers “unparalleled safety records and a commitment to customer service.”

But Sunday’s crash is the third one involving Liberty Helicopters in the past 11 years, according to reports.

In 2009, a sightseeing helicopter of the same model and operated by Liberty Helicopters collided with a small, private plane over the Hudson River, killing nine people, including a group of Italian tourists, the Associated Press reported.

Two years earlier, one of the company’s helicopters, carrying eight people, dropped into the Hudson River but everyone was able to escape, according to WABC.

One witness told the New York Post she watched Sunday’s crash unfold from her apartment window and "immediately thought someone was in there and not going to live."

“By the time we got out here, we couldn’t see [the helicopter]," Mary Lee said. "It was under water.”

The skies over New York constantly buzz with helicopters carrying tourists, businesspeople, traffic reporters, medical teams and others. Crashes are not unheard of.

A crash in October 2011 in the East River killed a British woman visiting the city for her 40th birthday. Three other passengers were injured.

In June 2005, two helicopters crashed into the East River in the same week. One incident injured eight people, including some banking executives. The other crash hit the water shortly after takeoff on a sightseeing flight, injuring six tourists and the pilot.

[john70t]

If the FP switch is located on this flat panel, it would only be a matter of time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Helibras_HB-350B-2_Esquilo,_Helimed_AN1135834.jpg
Maybe it's not the best design.

(from my limited flight-sim experience..)
Some of the dashboard layouts should be simplified with the important switches covered, color coded, and grouped together for simplicity.
Everything needed for startup and recovery can be reached within a second by feel.
Airports should be made safer as well.
Runways well marked with larger letters and LED signs, designated landing strip a certain color and flashes in certain coded groups, taxiways are labeled and well marked so they make sense, etc.
Obviously pilots have charts and know most of it before, but it would be one less distraction on approach for new visitors who also deal with language.

[Seahawk]

To early to tell so I am speculating.

Looks like an auto rotation. Float bags out, so the pilot was aware and working through the event.

The pilot did a good job landing level, actually a very good job.

Helicopter crashes are yard sales. Water landings in the winter are very problematic. The Navy makes pilots and crew members practice crashing a whole bunch:




Do a search on "Helo Dunker". I have lived the dream many times. Surviving the crash is the first step, the flip is the hard part.

I wish it had worked out in their favor.

[wildthing]

Submerged... Upside down ... Frigid water... Can't imagine how to get out of it.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

To early to tell so I am speculating.

.... Float bags out....

Report said one of the bags did not inflate which is why it tipped over.


Also, that the pilot said the thought about landing in Central Park, decided not to; lots of people, so headed for the river.

[dad911]

Just heard on news: Passenger harness wrapped around fuel cutoff lever.....

Chopper doors removed, photography flight, so they had extra harnesses, hard to get out, drowned.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by tcar

Also, that the pilot said the thought about landing in Central Park, decided not to; lots of people, so headed for the river.

I have flown the Hudson at least a hundred times from the Sikorsky Factory in Bridgeport, Ct. I still remember the calls coming over the George, headed to the Lady.

The Central Park option, depending on altitude, is going to be an issue, was an issue. An auto rotation is not a glide, rather a well thrown brick.

Here is the route chart:

[KNS]

On most Astars the fuel shutoff valve is located near the floor between the pilot and front seat passenger. There is a small gauge safety wire on it that is made to be broken with a good tug/pull. I could see a strap possiblly getting wrapped around it and yanked.

I’ve got about 3000 hours in the Astar, it is a fantastic helicopter but like many things designed by the French there are some things about it that make you scratch your head and say (what?). Most Astar seat belts are simple to release/unbuckle but if they were wearing extra harnesses and weren’t thoroughly briefed that would be bad.

All speculation at this point...

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by tcar

Report said one of the bags did not inflate which is why it tipped over.

After watching the vid, it looked like the front right bag was not inflated prior to impact.
However, later pics showed it fully submerged (upside down) and all six bags appeared to be inflated. So, maybe slow inflation on the front right bag?

Either way, it looked like a pretty hard hit, which couldn't have helped matters any. From the limited footage, it appeared as though there was little/no attempt to flare.
Hard to tell on the vid, but he may have pulled pitch at the very last second, but that would be a bit too late. Probably easy to misjudge over water though...

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by KNS

On most Astars the fuel shutoff valve is located near the floor between the pilot and front seat passenger. There is a small gauge safety wire on it that is made to be broken with a good tug/pull. I could see a strap possiblly getting wrapped around it and yanked.

Was hoping you would weigh in.

I can't believe they are still configured like that (an no AD's issued). I am pretty sure I've heard the same thing causing incidents with other Squirrels.

Still, I would think that checking it would either be part of the re-light procedure, or at the very least, the auto-rotation procedure.
If you went to shut it off prior to auto-rotation, and noticed it was already off, I would think you would have a "light bulb" moment and push it back down and try another re-light.
Obviously, time (airspeed/altitude) is a huge factor, and it's all just speculation/armchair QB'ing at this point...

[KNS]

In newer Astars the fuel shutoff valve was moved to the ceiling. Most helicopter operations are flown so low that there simply isn't time to do an engine restart (manually). Some helicopters, though, have an "Auto Relight" feature, when a sensor sees that N1 has dropped below a certain level the engine ignitors fire off automatically to hopefully get the engine re-lit. I've flown probably three dozen different Astars in various models over the years (B,BA,B1,B2,B3) but I've never seen engine relight in one. Not that it doesn't exist.

His flare did look a little flat but again I wasn't sitting in his seat at the time, don't know what the wind was doing, etc. I don't want to second guess his actions.