A military helicopter carrying ten persons crashed on the runway of an airbase in Nimibia’s Grootfontein this Friday.
Xinhua, the spokesperson of the Namibian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the accident occurred just after the helicopter took off. Four people were killed while six others were injured. The injured were rushed to Windhoek for medical care.
The cause of the accident is not known at the moment.
There are at least a dozen news articles today discussing the issue of helicopter safety, many of them responding to the AP article that references the 9 medical crashes in the eleven months.
Part of the problem is a shortage of night vision (infrared “synthetic visionâ€) that displays terrain of the type the military uses.
The article also lists recommendations of the NTSB, which may or may not be adopted by the FAA. The recommendations are as follows:
One hopes that through this 20-20 hindsight the FAA will have better vision.
There are issues going on with the FAA. “A federal logjam has held up the report on the Oct. 15 crash.” There have been a lot of crashes lately and the paperwork must be piling up.
And then there is this: “Shelley Garrett, guardian over Dave Garrett’s only son and heir, filed a product-liability and negligence lawsuit late last week against Bell Helicopter in Harris County District Court” over the channel 13 helicopter crash. While not a medical evacuation crash, it is still helicopter crash news. Are the NTSB and FAA qualified to supervise helicopter safety issues?
A Baron fixed-wing airplane crashed while conducting cloud seeding on Sunday afternoon at a corn field in Villa Coloma, Bagabag town in Nueva Vizcaya province of Philippines.
Chief of Bagabag police, Chief Inspector Chevalier Iringan confirmed that the RP C1974 plane took off from Cauayan City airport, Isabela province and crashed over the Magat River watershed at about 2:45pm.
All four people including the pilot; Philip Jubane and three passengers; Christopher Evan Borja, Leilanie Naga and Melvin Simangan, died at the spot. The victims were employees of the Bureau of Soils and Water Management.
The plane was on its fourth and last cloud seeding operation commissioned by SN Aboitiz Power-Magat Inc.
What: private helicopter crash en route from Paso Robles to Benecia
Where: Paicines area field
When: June 22, 2010
Who: 4 aboard
Why: The pilot and adult passenger were taking their daughters to choir practice. After the cockpit began to smell of smoke, the pilot landed in the field. Just prior to landing, flames erupted from the motor. The pilot and adult passenger quickly exited with their daughters, and a few moments later, the helicopter was engulfed in flames.
What: Euro Copter EC 130 helicopter en route from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Indianapolis
Where: Noblesville Hanbury Manor Boulevard near the Sagamore Golf Course
When: Nov 3, 2011
Who: pilot and 5 passengers
Why: The pilot made a public statement that he was piloting his chopper and encountered severe weather. He made an emergency landing described as “controlled” in an Indiana corn field.
After landing, when everyone aboard had vacated, the chopper caught fire. There were no injuries.
The incident is under investigation by the NTSB and the FAA.
Pictured: Lion Air Robinson Helicopter fleet published on Lion Air Website
What: Lion Air Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter
Where: Jael Subdivision in Barangay Iyam, south of Lucena City, Philippines
When: MAY 17, 2010
Who: 4 aboard the flight, and two or three on the ground including Rowena Navales (14) 7 fatalities in all.
Why: The Lion Air helicopter had just taken off. A scant 300 feet later, the chopper swerved, the propeller stopped spinning, and the helicopter slammed into three houses in a neighborhood 70 miles south of Manila. The fire spread to five houses. There were two or three fatalities on the ground, possibly all children, in addition to those aboard the flight.
Aboard were Quezon Gov. Rafael Nantes,his military escort Master Sergeant Alfred Dominguez, police escort Police Officer Randy Roferez, and the pilot identified as Nestor Sanchez.
The crash is being attributed to mechanical problems.
A small plane crashed in a soybean field near Leshara, Nebraska, on the afternoon of July 24th.
According to sources, two pilots were aboard the plane when it crashed.
Both the pilots were killed in the crash.
The cause of the crash has not been reported yet.
