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Stunning Video: Helicopter Disintegrates During Landing
- Posted on February 23, 2012 at 11:00pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Four people were injured in Brazil when a helicopter disintegrated upon landing.
Brazil’s Regional Service for the Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents is looking into the reasons why a rescue helicopter disintegrated shortly after landing in the northern state of Para on Wednesday.
Amateur images taken by the Para Fire Department showed how the aircraft came apart while vigorously vibrating.
Officials believe the helicopter experienced what is known as ground resonance, a condition that happens when the aircraft’s rotor is working while the helicopter is on the ground.
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Comments (70)
BOMUSTGO
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:40amSo much for that chopper beating the air into submission!
Report Post »LIBSALWAYSLIE
Posted on February 25, 2012 at 5:30amsomething caused the blades to become out of balance, its not magic.
Report Post »RRFlyer
Posted on February 25, 2012 at 10:14pmLIBSALWAYSLIE
Posted on February 25, 2012 at 5:30am
something caused the blades to become out of balance, its not magic.
No, the blades do not become out of balance. I have 40 years and 18,000 hours in helicopters, if blades suddenly became out of balance (without parts of them breaking off beforehand) I think I would have heard about it. .
Report Post »People will choose to ignore what I say and apply their own ignorance to the reason for the crash, but I”m going to say it anyway.
Like they said, It’s called ground resonance. It is not caused by a malfunction. To reach this stage of destruction it is a type of pilot error, as it can be prevented and stopped if recognized, before it gets out of hand. I have experienced it myself and have stopped it.
I’m not going to waste my time explaining it, you have Google, and if you don’t want to believe that, you won’t anyway. So believe what you want, but the truth is evident.
BruceB
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:37amI was all BHO’s fault
Report Post »SeekerEmerald
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:24pmNo silly, have you NOT been paying attention? It‘s always BUSH’s fault…
Report Post »aircommando
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:36pmIs anyone else having this problem?
Report Post »Not to get off subject but, why do I have to click the back button five times to get every story to return to the home page?
Conservative Freshman
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 3:18pmyes I have to click it at least five times and some times six
Report Post »ShooterB0Y
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 3:19pmHey i have that problem too! mine wont go back until i click the back key to death…
Report Post »SLARTIBARTFAST
Posted on February 25, 2012 at 11:21amSame here on the back click. I’ve had to reload The Blaze each time-PITA!
Report Post »s0ck_monkey
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:11amGround resonance can best be demonstrated by holding a plastic 12 inch ruler extended out over the edge of a desk under your thumb, then flicking the end of it and pulling the ruler back as it bounces. You don’t get the after-effect because the desk, which obviously is more dense and much heavier than the ruler, is absorbing the vibration. But in the case of a helicopter blade that is made of a honeycomb aluminum and composite that flexes…if you land too hard the rotor blades bounce. The vibration travels up the blade and the energy is transferred to the aircraft itself. Helicopter airframes are aluminum – albiet designed to be semi rigid but still slightly flexible – when resonance happens, it can rip apart sections of the aircraft, like in the video.
Do a google search (or whatever search engine you use) on ground resonance. There are some pretty cool videos of it, from landings and at testing facilities.
Report Post »TheLeftMadeMeRight
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:17amVibration leads to separation…
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:33amGround resonance comes from some place…its an out of balance rotor blade or out of trim blade that usually is the culprit. A finely tuned helicopter does not do this.
Report Post »s0ck_monkey
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:02amI agree, ChiefGeorge. Sixteen of my twenty years in the Army was in Avaition, and I never saw any of our aircraft have problems with resonance. I’m inclined to think that the pilot landed too hard and induced it – I can’t be sure, though, since the video starts with the aircraft already on the ground.
If the resonance was caused purely from a blade(s) that are out of balance, one would think that the pilot would have recognized the excessive vibes at run-up or during flight and either returned to the airfield or landed immediately. Makes you wonder if those Brazillian aircraft mechanics know what a track & balance is…
Report Post »rocketwrangler
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:15pmGood explanation of resonance. EVERYTHING has a resonance (natural frequency). It’s not a problem until it is excited by a forcing function. As a vibration analyst, I see this problem quite often. Manufacturers are making equipment cheaper and often variable speed and, therefore, they operate closer to their natural frequency. Here is a cool video on youtube:
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RihcJR0zvfM
TSUNAMI-22
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 3:37pm@ ChiefGeorge
Ground resonance comes from some place…its an out of balance rotor blade or out of trim blade that usually is the culprit. A finely tuned helicopter does not do this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) fully articulated rotor system
2) Possibly had a bad damper on one of the rotors
3) landed hard enough to impart enough force to throw the rotors out of balance with each other.
4) All this guy had to do was pick it back up off the ground (provided he had sufficient rpm) and it would have vanished….then attempted a softer landing.
Report Post »Avi8or
Posted on February 25, 2012 at 4:21pmHere’s a good example of what to do in this situation, from everyone‘s favorite 80’s show, MacGyver…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vICf8l-KV0&feature=player_embedded
Report Post »Scooder
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:01am@TOMFERRARI, Sounds great. Sign me up! SERIOUSLY!!
Report Post »BehindBlueEyes
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:58amThe people inside must have had their heads shaken senseless.
Report Post »TWO BITS
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:53amI hate flying, but have always been tempted to try one of the sight-seeing helicopters. I think I’ll stay on the ground where I at least have a running chance.
Report Post »MrKnowItAll
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:30amSame thing happened to my $100.00 remote control piece of C__P helicopter.
Report Post »dioheerai
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:44amSo it never occured to the idiot pilot to shut down the engines when the vibrations first began what an idiot
Report Post »000degrees
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:01amAhh that is exactly what he did do…..
Report Post »Dustoff23
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:13amShutting down the engines or trying to go flat pitch is the wrong thing to do. You just bring it back to a hover very quickly and the problem is solved.
Report Post »TheLeftMadeMeRight
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:22amMonday morning quarterbacks, wheel chair generals and x-box no-nothing pilots….
Why didn’t he just push the EASY landing button?
Report Post »TSUNAMI-22
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 3:41pm@ Dustoff23
Shutting down the engines or trying to go flat pitch is the wrong thing to do. You just bring it back to a hover very quickly and the problem is solved.
Report Post »~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Correct !
grannyrecipe
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:40amYeah Doc, I got this sore neck…you’ll never believe what happened to me today!
Report Post »Grillmark55
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:40amThis is probably what we would get if the Obama Administration decided to bail out a helicopter company.
Report Post »The Woot
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:30amRotor imbalance? There was hardly any rotor spin I thought. I bet something in the transmission/gearbox got loose, unmounted or out of balance.
Report Post »Stevsea
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:29amSounds like one of the pistons wasn’t firing.
Report Post »krispy01
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:57amFlux capacitor wasn’t generating enough jigawatts.
Report Post »USPATRIOT101
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:22amMade In China.
Report Post »supressorgrid
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:07amIs this one of Obama’s new green machines?
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:58am.
Report Post »Looks like it got the Jungle Rot……
TickleMyPickle
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:57amOOOOhhhh!!! is that where that bolt went!
Report Post »goofyfoot2001
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:22amGround resonance sucks
Report Post »nighttrainno9
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:03amI heard obama was into buying foreign helicopters,
Report Post »we can only hope it will be a russian “yak”.
POdVet
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 6:49amNote to self: If ever in a serious accident in Brazil tell them you prefer a long comfortable ambulance ride rather than their version of life flight!
Report Post »ThePostman
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:08amRotor imbalance.
Report Post »Ialmostforgot
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:47amI agree!
Report Post »Something broke on landing.
Ground Resonance?!? What a lame excuse.
single stack
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:07amNope. Pilot error.
Report Post »Ground resonance is initiated by pulling collective, but not enough to take off, while on the ground. Once it starts the only cure is to take off. Dropping collective to flat pitch won’t stop it.
Dustoff23
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:15amNo, poor pilot technique.
Report Post »WeekendAtBernankes
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:06amNot quite what I’d call “disintegration”.
It is clear, however, that someone had a few screws loose.
Report Post »finwe
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:32amMy thoughts exactly.
Report Post »bullcrapbuster
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 11:53pmRussian choppers are extremely accident prone.
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 11:37pmlol…..I don’t ride in helicopters, because my fixed-wing pilot mind, cannot comprehend flight without airspeed….:D
Report Post »USAMEDIC3008
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:23amI like both ,but did you ever try a NO power landing on
Report Post »a Footballfield(auto-rot)
nzkiwi
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:31amYeah, and it was being operated by the “Brazil Regional Service for the Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents”.
Lol.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 6:35am@TXPILOT
I hear ya! I’ll stick to fixed wing.
Okay, part of me likes the idea of flying out of my own yard, helo style, but that’s a whole different set of controls to learn, and then there is that whole “Jesus joint” thing.
Guess I’ll have to save enough for a home on a runway!
Anyone else ready to build our own “Atlantis?” (as in “Atlas Shrugged”)
Report Post »Runway, Private school system, farm land, off grid electric capability, etc??
Seriously??
Tooler17
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:21amRotors spinning at 500 RPM = speed. Alf Martinez likes men.
Report Post »Dustoff23
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:19amI don’t trust anything that needs forward airspeed to make a successful takeoff or landing.
Report Post »USAMEDIC3008
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:38amDUSTOFF23
Report Post »Slicks are fine Change just a little,add door 60 ,
and gets better
TXPilot
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:50pmI actually took a few lessons in a helicopter once, just to see what it was like. I was doing fine, til the instructor said we were going to make an “emergency auto-rotation” and when I asked where, he pointed down between my feet and dumped the collective……luckily, I found that screaming helps keep the vomit down…lol
Report Post »omgfolks
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 11:36pmNow I am betting the was one wild time sitting in the hopper, I saw that no one was silly enough to jump and try to run away, had they done that someone could have have lost their head. Gkad no one got hurt…
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 11:30pmGround resonance? Had to look up the term, and yes it looks possible that is what occured; yet I will have to wait for official diagnosis – just glad no one was killed in this accident. People wonder why I dont ride in copters…
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 11:39pmI’m not sure of it but that tail rotor was not functioning properly .
Report Post »