How to destroy two police helicopters in 2 seconds!

[n4gix 5,003]

On November 17, 2012 a Pasadena Police Department (PD) helicopter struck a stationary Pasadena PD helicopter while maneuvering to park at the Pasadena Police Benedict Heliport in Altadena, California.

 

[787flyer 675]

Ouch! I bet that hurt, especially the person outside the helicopter that was hit with main rotor blade and managed to walk away!😵

[Swe_Richard 1,180]

Textbook definition of having a bad day at work...Hope everyone's ok though. 

 

[stans 746]

They are fortunate that no one was killed or seriously injured.

[vgbaron 3,766]

Looks to me like the fault was with the ground team - they pulled it from the hangar and left it in between the two parking spaces. Second heli tried to land on correct spot and boom.

[n4gix 5,003]

9 hours ago, 787flyer said:

Ouch! I bet that hurt, especially the person outside the helicopter that was hit with main rotor blade and managed to walk away!😵

The person outside the helicopter was the Lt. who'd just advised the misplaced helicopter to stand down from their flight due to deteriorating weather conditions.

It doesn't excuse the ground crew for placing the first helicopter offset from their pad, but the second helicopter trying to land was not expected back from their mission for a full hour, and they were "in a rush" to get airborne.

What amazed me was to learn that Pasadena had a total of SIX helicopters. That's a lot of money!

[kfd 60]

I have worked extensively with rotary and It doesn’t matter what the ground crew did - the safety and responsibility rests solely with the aircraft captain.  The second heli had no business attempting to park so close to the other, and it’s my guess he will be held solely responsible for the incident.

[n4gix 5,003]

Not that it matters, but the landing helo's pilot was a woman. So, you don't mind if another driver parks his/her car blocking two parking spaces?

The pilot of the helo spinning up should have insisted the ground crew relocate the craft in its assigned pad's area.

[188AHC 2,143]

I can't believe the total lack of spacial awareness. Terrible loss of two aircraft.

 

 

[dmwalker 614]

The NTSB documentation is here. Document 5 - NTSB Airframe and Engine Examination has the pilot interviews:

https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/?NTSBNumber=WPR13GA044AB

[dbw1 457]

On 10/29/2022 at 11:40 AM, vgbaron said:

Looks to me like the fault was with the ground team - they pulled it from the hangar and left it in between the two parking spaces. Second heli tried to land on correct spot and boom.

I flew rw for 17 years. I hate to quote as a Monday morning quarterback*, but I will, this appears to be a team phook-up by all involved. It's pretty hard to hide from the camera.

*My first engine failure (late 1970s, Bell 206a) every other pilot I knew had words of wisdom for me how I should have handled it. I got it into a swamp surrounded by 50' tress with minor damage - I clipped a small tree on the way in.....no cameras, lol. Of course, in your 20s you still think you're invulnerable and need a wheelbarrow to carry a certain part of your anatomy around. After several engine failures I decided if you've got to choose between being good and being lucky, choose lucky.

[dmwalker 614]

The funny thing is the arriving helicopter first landed on the grass then hover taxied onto the pad.

The helicopter preparing to depart did not have the radio turned on so the arriving helicopter couldn't communicate with it. I thought the radio should be turned on when starting up the helicopter.

[dbw1 457]

2 hours ago, dmwalker said:

The funny thing is the arriving helicopter first landed on the grass then hover taxied onto the pad.

The helicopter preparing to depart did not have the radio turned on so the arriving helicopter couldn't communicate with it. I thought the radio should be turned on when starting up the helicopter.

Avionics come on after start and after the generator is on. Usually external indication of impending start is the rotating beacon and at night position lights.