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Way to much of this happening ....

75 yr old pilot ... reported as an engine failure ....

http://www.thv11.com/news/local/gyrocop ... /313336226

An engine failure shouldn't be an issue in a well set up gyro? You need power to climb and maintain altitude (unless your name is patch.... then you can climb out of a ravine when the engine fails.... evidently, if you are going fast enough) .... but you don't need power to land?

Must be more to it.... could be a medical event?

Continuing to be a bad week ...

Brand new Bell 429 down in Slovakia
Brand new AW 139 police chopper crash in Kenya 4 survived - video below
Bell 206 hit power lines in New Brunswick Canada . 2 dead 1 survived
AS 350 police helicopter shot down in Mexico . 5 dead
S61 down in Florida , 3 dead
R66 down in Austria , reported RedBull pilot Hannes Arch was killed

Brand new AW 139 police chopper crash in Kenya 4 survived

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8mn8IqPz3I

It had been hovering for 20 minutes over one spot before it went down. Some reports of control problems and they wanted to burn off fuel and auto in.

From another angle , looks like tail rotor problems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCtK01lyaVo

.

Sheesh ... they even have a video of shooting the Mexican police chopper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac2ON3VhET4

Rumored to be drug cartels

So annoying how when people video something... when the action happens, all you get is a crotch shot or picture of a helicopter, then some fire crackers going off and some video of some smoke from an unknown source.... then post it on youtube

If that heli hovered in one spot for 20 minutes.... no wonder it crashed.... most of the big helis have a 5 minute (or so) hover limit, then they have to do a circuit and reposition don't they? They have to be a specially made heli to hover endlessly?

Don't they all come with MGB torque limitations in the manual? Also, depending on the weight of the payload, some choppers at max weight are allowed/approved to use 120% torque output on takeoff, but are to take off and go.... not take off and hover until they burn off enough fuel to be within the weight limit that the transmission can be at 100% (rather than 120%)

Just what I read somewhere... they start building up heat in the dogbox and the transmission can overheat sitting in one spot.... so they have to do a 60kt little circuit and come back to the hover point for a further 5 minutes, or until the trans gets hot again?

If that heli sat there for 20 minutes without moving, on a hot day, with no wind.... the trans would have been fried for sure... especially if it had 5 people and full of gas? It needs ram air for cooling

Even one of my toy choppers has melted the plastic engine cover from hovering for too long.... I reckon a heli made to hover for long periods would need a fan cooled transmission. Also, on a hot, still day (no wind) would there not be a high possibility in vortex ring state or confined area recirculation? Here is a link to airbus choppers, I think it has some of the limitation stuff

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j ... PoZecyEZmg

Yes.... Hannes has died

http://www.redbull.com/en/stories/13318 ... a-red-bull