Re:Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit
by MaxBarraclough on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @12:49PM
(#24630085)
So they instantly lost the main rotor? Same thing happens in mast bumping.
Here's the best explanation I know of: https://youtu.be/jDg1G2y8ZX4?t=293
(As far as I can tell no-one has made an animation of what happens.)
Re:Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit
by treetoppin on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @08:28PM
(#24634623)
If they survived the crash, it probably was something necessitated an auto rotation, rather than the main rotor departing the helicopter. If that happened they would almost certainly be dead. If the nut on the top of the rotor mast detached - called the Jesus nut - they would also be dead. Mast bumping probably wasn't the cause either since that is a problem mostly constrained to a type of rotor system that wouldn't typically be used in an air ambulance setting. I'm not sure if I know of any helicopters with an underslung rotor system that are used by EMS operators.
Re:Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit
by MaxBarraclough on Wednesday September 30, 2020 @02:43PM
(#24642127)
> If they survived the crash, it probably was something necessitated an auto rotation, rather than the main rotor departing the helicopter
Good point, went down like a stone is unlikely to be true.
> a type of rotor system that wouldn't typically be used in an air ambulance setting
Sure, I didn't phrase my comment very well, hadn't meant to imply otherwise.
I dropped my friend a line and he answered back with a detailed description of his helo accident. It was one helluva freakish story.
They loaded an older lady in a hilly, wooded area not quite close to Ostrava (the largest city in the region, my birthplace). She had symptoms of a serious stroke, it was 1998, no one really expected her to live long, but not that short either.
A few minutes into the flight something (a nut?) exploded in the rotor and they went down like a stone. Very, very hard crash, still in a hilly, wooded area, but close to a big water reservoir, an artificial lake.
The lady died on impact. All other people on board survived with serious injuries, but they were saved by an unbelievable coincidence. A mine rescue team from Ostrava had a regular training on the lake and the helicopter crashed in their sight, less than a kilometer away. So they were there in like 3 minutes, dragged them to safety and put the burning wreck out.
If this was a movie, it would look totally unrealistic. But it happened.
Three months of rehabilitation and friend's lower back is still bad. He cannot stand completely upright, tilts slightly to a side.