Aviation News, Headlines & Alerts
 
Category: <span>Robinson</span>

Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

Tour Helicopter Crashes in California; 3 Injured

A tour helicopter made a crash landing, hit 2 vans, and caught fire in the parking area of Santa Barbara Municipal Golf Club in California, in the afternoon of May 5th.

The four-seater Robinson R-44 was returning to the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport after a tour, when it developed a mechanical problem.

All three people aboard sustained injuries.

The FAA is investigating.


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

Helicopter Crash-Lands on Long Island; No Injuries Reported

A 2006 Robinson R22 Beta helicopter made a crash-landing near West Riviera Drive and West Alhambra Avenue in Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York, on January 27.

The incident happened after the helicopter, carrying two people, lost power while returning to the Republic Airport. According to Frank Delia, of the Academy of Aviation, “It was a standard training flight…They were coming from the south practice area, which is off the south shore of Long Island, on their way back to Republic Airport after a successful training flight.”

Both people aboard the aircraft, including the pilot Joseph Lombardo, 26, and his student Ming Chen, 26, remained uninjured.


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

Pilot Walks Away after Helicopter Crashes near Ketchum, OK.

helicoptersaopA Robinson R-44 helicopter crashed in a hayfield around 2 miles north of Ketchum, Oklahoma, on August 25th.

FAA authorities said the helicopter, flying from Ketchum airport, went down after it lost its tail rotor.

The pilot, who was the only one aboard, remained uninjured.

The accident is being investigated.


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

Private Helicopter Crashed into Sea in Denmark; 3 Dead 1 Missing

SeaA U.S. built Robinson 44 helicopter crashed into waters in central Denmark, near the eastern coast of Samsoe Island, on September 5.

The authorities believe that the private helicopter was en-route to Samsoe with 4 people aboard when it crashed.

Three dead bodies have so far been recovered from the sea, while the search for the fourth person is underway.

The identities of victims and the information regarding ownership of the helicopter has not yet been released.

The cause of crash is under investigation.

Guatemala: Chopper Crash

Ex army officer Ramón Rodríguez Toledo, and his passengers Luis Paiz and Andrés Berger were aboard a Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter that crashed in a coffee plantation in Guatemala between Villa Canales and Fraijanes.

Andrés Berger was the copilot.

The flight took off at 17:48 on Monday but lost communication with ATC shortly afterward. Residents near the impact zone heard an explosion at 18:00 hours.

A friend of the pilot said he had 15,000 hours in the cockpit.

The accident is under investigation.


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

Robinson Retrofit

Owners of Robinson R44 choppers are recommended to replace their fuel tanks after crash investigations realized fatal accidents could have been avoided. Survivable accidents were made unsurvivable after a post-crash fires resulted from “an impact-related breach in the fuel tanks.”

Robinson issued a service bulletin in December 2010 calling for the retrofit of the all-aluminum fuel tanks with crash-resistant tanks. According to Robinson, retrofit kits are supplied at below-cost and can be performed by any qualified mechanic, service center or at the factory.

Unidentified Body Discovered


Remains of some poor soul were discovered on the banks of the Dordogne River ten kilometers from where the helicopter crash killed Hong Kong tycoon Kok Lam. The body has not been identified yet. Due to its condition after being in the water, the id will have to be found through DNA testing. The remains of 12-year-old son Kok Shun-yu, son of Kok Lam, were found indie the Robinson R44 a day after the helicopter crashed.

The body found in the river may be a person missing since April, which might explain the extent of the damage of the remains.

Kok Lam was owner of the Hong Kong based Brilliant group, which runs upmarket hotels and other properties, including the newly purchased Château de la Riviere.

Read more:

Billionaire Lost in French Helicopter Crash

Helicopter Lost in Dordogne river


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

Another Robinson Crash

On January 12, 2013, a Sky Clear Aviação Robinson R22 Beta II was in Santa Maria Madalena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on a training flight when it crashed into a forested area. Because he helicopter crashed on top of trees, some of the crash force was dispersed. Both the pilot and student sustain injury. Herbert Campbell, 39, and Gabriel Silva Mataruna Ahmed, 23, were the accident victims. They were conscious when the rescue team arrived but the helicopter is a total loss.

Emergency responders were the fire brigade of Conceição de Macabu.

The farm where the accident happened is on the edge of St. Mary Magdalene with Conceição de Macabu, North Fluminense. The Centre for research and prevention of Aeronautical Accidents is investigating.

Billionaire Lost in French Helicopter Crash

Chinese billionaire Lam Kok purchased a French vineyard, and boarded a helicopter with three others, including his son, the former owner who was flying the helicopter, and a translator, to take an aerial tour of the 65-hectare (160-acre) vineyards and surrounding grounds. Lam Kok’s and James Gregoire’s wives had declined to fly.

Twenty minutes after the flight took off, the helicopter went missing.

The helicopter, flown by James Gregoire, former owner of the vineyard, was missing but a witness came forward and told a mounted policeman that the helicopter had been seen falling into the Dordogne river, and people had been seen struggling in the water.

Emergency helicopters, divers and a hundred foot officers converged on the scene, and were deployed to search. After dark, a helicopter with a searchlight joined the searchers.

Lam Kok, new owner of the vineyard Château de la Riviere was head of the Hong Kong-based Brilliant group which plans to develop a tea and wine tasting center and hotel in Bordeaux.

One of the bodies was recovered around midnight. Rumors are that the body is of Lam Kok’s twelve year old son. The search was halted overnight, but resumed on the morning of the twenty-first. The search has been hampered by strong currents in the river.

Ironically, John Leprince, a former owner of the vineyard, died in a plane crash in 2002, not far from the crash site in the Dordogne. Combined with this crash, this means the last three owners of the vineyard were lost in aviation accidents.

Read More…

Robinson Emergency Landing in Russia

A UTair Aviation Robinson R44 had two people aboard on November 22nd 2013 when it made a hard landing in Tyumen, Russia.

This information comes even before a preliminary investigation, but reports are that there was an engine malfunction.

Task Force Firehouse number 146 responded to the scene where it land at Tarakanova Yarkovsky village in Tyumen, Russia.

New Mexico Helicopter Crash


A Robinson R44 II with three aboard crashed near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico just before noon in Sierra County near State Road 187 between Las Palomas and Caballo.

There was no fire, but the three people aboard died in the crash. The victims were 78-year-old Duane Zietlow, of Elephant Butte; 61-year-old William Brownfield, of Caballo; and 34-year-old pilot Ebenezer Priebe, of Tucson, Arizona.

The helicopter may have struck a power line.


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

Helicopter News

Just crossing the transom now, there were alerts today of a number of helicopter events:

  • The fleet of North Sea Super Pumas were reinstated after the Sumburgh crash that killed 4 oil workers:
    but the L2 version of the helicopter – the Super Puma model involved in Friday’s crash – will only be allowed to fly on the what has been described as “non passenger revenue operations”

  • 1 hurt in helicopter crash in Tonto National Forest when a helicopter leased by APS made a hard landing with six people aboard

See Video below

  • Helicopter crashes for science at NASA Langley

See Video below

  • The Canadian NTSB indicated that the Robinson Helicopter R44 II in July 2012 in Carcross, Yukon occurred because of the pilot’s failure to check winds affecting the landing area. On July 10, 2012, an R44 II operated by Horizon Helicopters Ltd. transported 2 Yukon Government surveyors to bear-bait sites in the Carcross area. The helicopter departed Carcross at 3 p.m. followed the north shore of Tagish Lake and approached the wildlife survey site from the west. At approximately 3:13 p.m., the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre received an emergency locator transmitter signal from the aircraft. The wreckage was found approximately 5 nautical miles east of Carcross on Nares Mountain. The pilot was fatally injured, one passenger was seriously injured, and another received minor injuries.
  • On Oahu, a civilian pilot and a passenger crashed in a pineapple field a mile south of Wheeler Army Airfield. Both were hospitalized. The privately owned AC 8KCAB Decathlon experienced a loss of power. The accident was originally listed as occurring in a helicopter, but it is a single engine fixed wing plane registered to J3 ENGINEERING.

  • Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

    Robinson Crashes in Sweden

    In August 26, 2013, a Robinson R44 in Tyresö-Flatenm Sweden was fetching water from a lake when the helicopter crashed.

    Two people were aboard as the helicopter came in at a low altitude. There was a big bang heard by witnesses on the ground.

    A junior high school class of fourteen and fifteen year-olds witnessed when the helicopter fell into lake Tyreso Flaten in Tyreso east. They paddled out to assist the people aboard the helicopter. When police, sea and air rescue and fire personnel responded to the scene, the two victims had already been rescued.

    The investigation is still underway.


    Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

    Helicopter Emergency Landing in India

    On August 14, 2013, a Tej Airways Robinson R44 Raven II en route from Godhra to Amdavad ashram had to make an emergency landing at Chartoda graveyard in Gomtipu, near Ahmedabad, India.

    The helicopter had been chartered for Narayan Prem Sai by his father, Hindu Spiritual leader Asaram Babu.

    Four firetrucks and three ambulances responded to the scene.

    Two people were hospitalized.


    Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

    5 Fatalities in Noxen, PA Helicopter Crash During Thunderstorm

    A Robinson R66 #N646AG en route from Lehighton PA to Endecott NY with five aboard was en route when it disappeared from radar during conditions of severe thunderstorms and heavy fog. The last communication to ATC was a report around 10 pm Saturday that he was “losing altitude and would try to return to a nearby airfield.”

    The fragmented wreckage was located at 1:50 p.m. in a heavily wooded area. There was no fire, and no witness.

    Emergency response vehicles and personnel traveled an access road on the Mehoopany Wind Farm, a BP Wind Energy location, to the top of South Mountain. The unofficial guess at the cause of the crash is that the helicopter was caught in a thunderstorm.

    Flight Manifest:
    58-year-old Bernard Michael Kelly, of Ellicott City, Md.;
    daughter, Leanna Mee Kelly, of Savage, Md.;
    29-year-old Carl Robert Woodland, of Lovettsville, Va.;
    3-year-old son, Noah Robert McKain Woodland, of Leesburg, Va.;
    pilot 30-year-old David Ernest Jenny Jr., of Towson, Md.

    * N646AG ROBINSON R66 ROTORCRAFT CRASHED INTO A WOODED RUGGED TERRAIN, THE 5 PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED, 8 MILES FROM SKYHAVEN AIRPORT, TUNKHANNOCK, PA


    Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

    Two survive ROBINSON Crash in Utah

    On July 8, 2013 on 8:30 a.m, a 28-year-old pilot and his 24-year-old student were performing a training exercise in a ROBINSON R22 #N712U when it crashed and rolled downhill in the Tibble Fork Reservoir area of the American Fork Canyon.

    Both the pilot and student exited the plane on their own feet after just missing slamming into the mountain.

    The emergency response team responded to the pilot’s 911 call, searched the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and found the wreckage in under an hour after hiking half a mile uphill.

    The pilot told 911 that the helicopter was knocked from the sky by a gust of wind.

    Helicopter Crash in Schoemanskloof Kills Lion Sands Game Resort CEO


    A privately owned Robinson R-44 with four aboard crashed in the vicinity of Schoemanskloof outside Nelspruit in South Africa. The flight had taken off from Johannesburg and was en route to White river when it crashed in heavy mist. No one aboard survived. The fatalities were listed as Nick More, Pierre de Villiers, Lance Cooper and Elmarie Martens.

    Remains of the victims will be handled at the state mortuary in Pretoria.

    The South African Civil Aviation Authority will be investigating the crash site, Zondagskraal farm, four kilometers from the N4 highway.

    Pilot Mr Nick More, owned the helicopter and was CEO of Lion Sands Game Resort.

    Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport indicated that the flight plan listed that More departed from Nelspruit Airfield at 06:30, collected passengers at Casterbridge. The destination was listed as Grand Central Airport in Gauteng.


    Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

    Four Killed in Helicopter Crash in New South Wales

    On March 21, 2013 at about 1215 Eastern daylight-saving time, a Bankstown Heliport Robinson R44 on a private flight from Bankstown to Bulli Tops, New South Wales with four aboard suffered a terrain collision near Panorama House in Bulli Tops near Wollongong in NSW.

    Emergency services arrived on the scene around 1:43 pm. After the crash, the helicopter burned. Thirty units responded to the scene.

    The ATSB is investigating.


    Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

    Robinson, Cessna, Spitfire, Airbus, Piper and Homebuilt Crashes

    On March 17, 2013:

    • The aircraft and pilot were hijacked at gun point. The Quebec Helicoptor’s Robinson R44 made an illegal flight and crashed in Quebec Canada while en route from Mot-Tremblant to Saint Jerome. Hijacker took the chopper to St. Jerome, where two escapees attached to cables, and were taken to Mont-Tremblant. The pilot was wounded, two escapees were collared as well as two accomplices.
    • A privately owned Cessna 180K landed in a crosswind, crashed off the tarmac and ended with its nose in the ground Digby / Annapolis Regional Airport, Nova Scotia. The pilot was unhurt but the propeller, engine, and one wingtip sustained damage.
    • A privately owned Supermarine Spitfire replica performing in the Antique and Classic Aircraft Display crashed during an air show when the plane nosedived and struck a fence, killing pilot Roger Stokes near Parafield Airport.
    • A Novair Airbus A320-231 with two hundred aboard took off from Oslow Norway at 9:00, and a tire exploded. Pilots circled the airport for two hours and burned off fuel, making a safe landing at 11:25.
    • A Total Security Products Corp Piper crashed on approach to Stafford Regional Airport
    • The pilot of a homebuilt flight was en route from Casarrubios Airport and crashed in El Álamo, Madrid. Two fire crews arrived on the scene. The pilot built the plane that crashed and killed him.

    Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

    Emergency landing Lake Rotorua New Zealand

    On Feb 24, 2013, a Volcanic Air Safaris Ltd Robinson R44 Raven II made an emergency upright landing on skids near the end of Bennetts Rd, Koutu, not long after lifting off from Lake Rotorua New Zealand.

    The female pilot and three passengers escaped the helicopter 60 metres from the shore in knee deep water. A boat went to the helicopter’s aide about 10.10.

    The passengers were a man and his two children. There were no injuries.

    The chopper had suffered mechanical problems.


    Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

    Helicopter Crash Kills Paraguayan Candidate, General and Hero

    On Feb 2, 2013, a Robinson R44 with four aboard was en route on the campaign trail from Concepcion to Asuncion when it crashed in bad weather, south of Concepcion Paraguay near Puerto Antequera, in the Chaco region.

    The pilot’s last message was at 9 p.m. local time, when he said that they were changing course due to a storm. The control tower then lost contact.

    The pilot, two body guards and Lino Oviedo, a presidential candidate was killed in the crash.

    A search arm of the national police rescue team found the burnt corpses of those aboard the plane on February 3rd, a day after they were reported missing and disappeared from radar. Troops of the Search and Rescue Service, composed of staff of the Air Force and the Volunteer Fire Department assisted in the search.

    Witnesses who saw the crash site said that the helicopter “disintegrated.”

    Oviedo was a retired general who assisted in overthrowing Alfredo Stroessner in 1989; he died on the anniversary of the coup.

    Heli Rolls in Connecticut, No Injuries


    On Jan 17, 2012, a Northeast Helicopters Flight Services LLC Robinson R22 landed in Ellington, Connecticut and rolled on its side. The student pilot and the teacher aboard were uninjured.

    It was described as a hard landing at 360 Somers Road adjacent to the airport in Ellington at 12:45 pm. There was a minor fuel leak which was contained.

    IDENTIFICATION
    Regis#: 26NE Make/Model: R22 Description: R-22
    Date: 01/17/2013 Time: 1248

    Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N
    Damage: Substantial

    LOCATION
    City: ELLINGTON State: CT Country: US

    DESCRIPTION
    AIRCRAFT SUFFERED A HARD LANDING. ELLINGTON, CT

    German Helicopter Crash Kills Pilot on the Autobahn


    On Jan 10, 2013, a Robinson R44 Astro en route from Augsburg to Bretzfeld got caught up in a 380 kilovolts high voltage power transmission line and crashed on the Autobahn 6 in Southwestern Germany.

    The helicopter was flying below radar.

    Pieces of the helicopter hit a truck, but the driver was not seriously hurt. The accident occurred during rush hour between the junction Schwäbisch Hall and just before the Kochertalbrücke.

    The pilot, 42 year old Sven Berger was killed in the crash and will have to be identified thru his dna. The remains of the helicopter are melted, burned, broken and bent, and smell like burned plastic. First responders could not get through the flames to the helicopter.

    Berger was a firefighter, member of the Commerce and Industry association and owned the Schwab Bacher Kithcen Studios. The tentative cause for the accident is poor visibility. There were spots of freezing temperatures, rain and fog in Brachbach.

    Sao Paulo Chopper Training Flight Crash


    Dec 16 2012-An instructor and student of Rangel Escola de Avião Civil were injured during a training flight in a Robinson R-22 when it crashed at 19:30 near the Guarapiranga Dam in Sao Paulo Brazil.

    The hard landing was close to 15796 M’Boi Mirim road in the Garden Angela, in jungle terrain and destroyed the helicopter. Passengers were conscious when the rescue team arrived. Three fire vehicles responded.

    The instructor and the student pilot were admitted to Hospital das Clinicas and Hospital São Luís. The student’s head injuries are supposed to be not serious.

    The Fire Department and “Team Eagle” helicopter and Military Police responded to the scene.


    Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /home/airflight/www/www/wp-content/themes/fluida/includes/loop.php on line 270

    Three Survive Helicopter Ditched in AZ Lake

    What: Sky Blue Helicopters Robinson R44 Helicopter
    Where: Theodore Roosevelt Lake in Gila County
    When: Dec 7 2012
    Who: 3 aboard
    Why: Two men and one woman were aboard a helicopter on a sightseeing tour when it crashed in Theodore Roosevelt Lake in Gila County. The water where the helicopter crashed was 60 feet deep. Boaters pulled the passengers from the water.

    The two men and one woman were hospitalized in Phoenix. Julie Barba, 49, remains in the hospital, but Fred Cleeves, the 62-year-old pilot, and George Riedel, 64, were released from Scottsdale Healthcare Osborne Medical Center.

    Gila County Sheriff’s Office Divers attached a buoy to the helicopter to mark its location before removal.

    Sky Blue Helicopters leases the helicopter.

    Content not attributed to or linked to original, is the property of AirFlightDisaster.com; all rights reserved.

    Site Credits