The Norwegian accident was obviously NOT a pilot error .............
Sucks when your rotor leaves the mast for no apparent reason ......

Smells of sabotage really? Highly unusual for the entire rotor head and rotors could completely detach like that?

Fot the rotors to stay well enough in synch to fly themselves... the swash plate and links must have all stayed together? Maybe the whole mission pulled out of the transmission... with all the linkages in tact

Condolences to all of the poor buggers and thier families left behind.... there was no chance of saving that one

mast failure? what type of helicopter? puma? agusta 139?

Sad visual flashback .... I see Steve Wier's Dragonfly rotors spinning their way down ...as the smoke rose from the impact site of the rest! :( RIP good buddy!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36169929

Super Puma....Here is a link to the story... or google it for more news... but basically they all say the same thing

https://www.google.com.au/search?source ... IQ3j6WuY4k

Pumas ,they've had main rotor mast cracking problems for years, finally caught them in the ass.

It has to be the shittiest feeling knowing there is nothing spinning above you anymore.....
Damn.

How long from separation to impact?? ... how long to figure out WTF happened?? ... I imagine .. disbelief & denial then BANG ... the end! RIP !

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This is at least the second Super Puma to lose its complete rotor system

The one being lifted out of the water happened 2009 in the North Sea (catastrophic transmission failure)

The one on the rocks is the recent Norway crash

Both were off shore oil rig choppers

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I guess then, if the chopper had a transmission break and lock upinstantly... the rotors would have wanted to keep going and just tore off the top of the main mast

A tragedy for all involved

I hope the black boxes can confirm what happened and they can sort the problem out asap... but such a shame for those lost (and thier families) .... especially when they have had mast cracking issues in the past.... and transmission problems

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On April 29 Airbus grounded all EC225 helicopters (typical in cases like this)

May 1 Airbus says that they are no longer grounded

They must have determined the cause and it must be something that will not affect the rest of the fleet ..... apparently the helicopter had just come out of major maintenance a few days earlier. (engine-transmission)

The EC225 uses 3 support rods that carry all the weight from rotor-head to fuselage and one rod end looks as though the pin is missing , it is held in place by a spring clip

Some speculation that either the pin was not installed or fell out , because no damage or evidence the rod was ripped off

Pure speculation at this point .... rod-end circled in red.

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Forgot to include the Airbus notice

http://www.airbushelicopters.com/websit ... t_347.html

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Some mechanic will be getting nervous

Stuff like that has happened before ..... a very careful mechanic will place every part on his bench and make sure every part goes back on .... only to discover later a retaining clip stuck to his magnetic screwdriver and ended up in his toolbox and not on the pin.

Or having a massive rotor and transmission on a crane and jostle it into place , slip the pins into place , then spend an hour getting the straps and crane moved away .... then its lunchtime and forgets to put the retaining clips on the pins.

That is why the mechanics work is usually followed up by an inspector, 2nd set of eyes for that very reason.
But things do happen, and when they do they are tragic.

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Main Gearbox was changed on January 17th and the Rotor head was changed March 27th 2016 about a month before the crash

http://www.oilandgaspeople.com/news/834 ... tal-crash/

Had also been in the shop for (unknown) maintenance the previous day and went on a couple of test flights around the airport.

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Picture of the gearbox and 3 support struts.


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Around noon today (UK time) they are giving out a news release on the crash .... they must have figured out what happened.

Interesting comment the other day by someone knowledgeable in the helicopter industry .... he said if major components are going to fail , it is usually in the first 25% of the component life , or the last 25% of the component life and the middle 50% almost never have failures.

He said the President's helicopter they will first "prove" the engine in similar machine for the first 25% hours , then put it in the Pres. machine until 75% life and then remove it.

That's an interesting statement. I wonder how they come up with the percentage for each component?
By statistics or estimation? In the commie Europe they have a saying "don't buy thing that were made on Monday". Meaning nobody is 100% there after the weekend. I think having so may things now computerized takes that out of equation.....
One thing is for sure. This will be either a terrible maintenance mistake (maybe the struts got loosened for a reason and never got tightened back up) or Super Puma will follow the MTO line of "It breaks because you increase the throttle too rapidly" and it will be called a pilot error.....everyone wins!

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Kind of a lame news update .... all they said was the pilot was not blamed for the crash ..... duhh

Still some rumor of a support strut problem and some nervous mechanics pacing the floor.

Apparently one of the 3 support struts uses a slightly larger pin and there is already one known case where the smaller pin was used ..... but it was caught on the ground when they heard a clunking sound when the collective was raised and lowered