Bell 407 Helicopter left running unattended near bike path

Bell 407 Helicopter left running and (apparently) unattended next to a public bike path in Sausalito, California. After a few minutes, a pilot comes out from an adjacent building about 100 feet away and takes off. Surface winds at the time were 10-15 mph, but this is a very gusty area of the San Francisco Bay.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• bell
• 407
• helicopter
• running
• unattended
• dangerous

[atvman101]

At idle, you can leave a helicopter unattended, its like a car running at idle, slow winds dont affect a helicopter at idle

[davidolberding]

@atvman101 Very true, but this is a windy spot. It was west at 15 or so at this time, but gusts regularly come through here at 25.

[davidolberding]

Yes, not the best focus. It was a brand new camera on its first outing. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. I actually ran the file through a smoothing program so it wasn't so jittery.

[davidolberding]

Wow!  Either way!

[davidolberding]

I was more concerned that either a gust of wind could do some damage or that some random crazy could jump in...

Wouldn't catch me doing something like this with a $1.5M ship.

[yellowcub86]

a 407 is pretty heavy craft 10-15mph winds doesn't even move the cyclic besides you can adjust the friction on them, and he probably left running instead of adding another starting cycle on the starter/engine

[ryanmlt1]

Im pretty sure thats against Faa regulations you are not allowed to leave a aircraft running

[SpiderRider3]

boring

[wyo7011]

Dude, that things has NOS!!! Just kidding, but seriously, whats that bottle for under the fuse?

[fatqcockandballs]

I'm sure you know that had he shut down, he wouldn't have been able to start up for another 20+ minutes without a hot start.

[UrbanInfidel7]

That ship is a dead weight even when it's idling like that. There's no physical way it could leave earth. There are multiple reasons pilots do this, Main reason is if you land somewhere and shutdown but plan on departing in a short period of time, The still hot turbine is more prone to having a "Hot start". It's much easier (and efficient) to leave a turbine engine running than to restart it after its been operating. Flight schools don't allow this due to certain insurance regulations.

[atvman101]

@atvman101 and yes in flight school it would be a dumb thing to do and its parts of you training that one of the first things to do is put the fricton on so i dought that a helicopter owner like him or pilot would leave it on idle without the fricton on the cyclic stick and the collective locked

[atvman101]

@helopilot08 im a Helicopter mechanic

[helopilot08]

@atvman101 are you a pilot? the flight school i went to would kick you out for leaving a helicopter or any other aircraft running unattended. If the friction on the collective were loose on that chopper (or any chopper left unattended and running) it could have hopped off the ground and went into pilotless fit of joy! lol

[atvman101]

@davidolberding yes but the pitch of the blades is zero even if there was 50 mph winds it wouldnt do anything even if you pull on the collective at idle it doesnt do anything

[atvman101]

@leviterande at idle the rpm is lower than if it was running at 100%, it phsically cannot take off

[chfar072281]

@atvman101 Cars dont cost 3 million dollars.