Auckland helicopter crash HD

Crash of helicopter in Auckland Viaduct whilst erecting
Telecom xmas tree.

Please Note!! I do not give permission for the use of this video by any media organisations. However i am happy to discuss providing such permission in exchange for an agreed donation to the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter Trust...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Auckland
• helicopter
• crash
• telecom
• auckland
• viaduct
• harbour

[3bhui]

The line moved through a large distance toward the copter because of the rigger jumping up, grabbing it, and pulling down. No one has made a convincing argument that the copter crash was inevitable without the rigger pulling on the line.

If it was an emergency issue with the line stuck to the copter, a rigger could have cut the line and let the line drop. That's more reasonable than yanking down on the line.

That's assuming the group had rehearsed contingency plans and had tools ready.

[spinner1313]

@3bhui have never claimed that the incident was inevitable in any way.....just made incredibly LIKELY and PROBABLE the moment the pilot descended below the top of the mast with the line still attached!

As i said...i only started to film this as i could see that an accident was incredibly likely to occur!

The pilots decision to put his aircraft in such a position did not make the incident inevitable....but if he did make it possible/probable!!! 

[spinner1313]

@3bhui

....as for rehearsal of contingencies etc.....HAH!!!....i had staff on the ground there standing by to rig lights for the tree....their safety briefings consisted of "hurry up the choppers coming" and "stand back the choppers here"..... note the woefully inadequate exclusion zone around the site... dumbasses didnt even clear the lower marina pontoons!!...you can see public running for cover as they go about their business less than 30ft from the base of the tower!!!

[anastrophe]

this is the one view of this accident where you can see the rigging line hanging free. and from that, you can see that it really didn't matter that the rigger happened to swing the cable into the main rotor - had the chopper flown two meters lower, it would have hit the cable anyway. i have to say it seems like pilot error, rather than rigger error.

[spinner1313]

@anastrophe i had just filmed the chopper lift the tower into position...was about to leave when i saw the chopper begin to descend below the tower it had just lifted....seemed an utterly dumb move.....seemed an incident was inevitable...sure enough 20secs or so later.... cannot see how anyone other than the pilot can wear the blame for this!!!

[TungstenKid]

There's another vid on youtube very close up, a guy on the ground pulled a cable that seemed to be hanging from the chopper and the next thing the chopper crashes, i haven't a clue why.

[3bhui]

Did they release the cable somehow in previous liftings of towers? Or was this the only tower they raised and they didn't realize a taught cable issue?

It's a risk if the cable is short and can't be released once the tower is vertical. It's like painting yourself into a corner.

Another contingency option would be to fly back up and bring the tower back down to the ground horizontal so that the heli doesn't strike a hanging line that couldn't be released when the tower was vertical..

[evapored]

AS 350 Écureuil sfigati son

[TakeDownGR]

@Assking93 if you choose 1080p HD you can see a U on the left side. this is the cable used to lift the metal tower, but they couldnt release the cable, therefore they tried to manually release it. A worker at ground pulled the cable that led the left side of the U to hit the choppers blades. the cable then did a 180 spin and cut the chopper in two pieces! (thumbs up for ppl to know, I dont care to be top commenter:P)

[Assking93]

What did the heli hit?