News helicopter crashes in Seattle

[deadrose]

I just woke up to this news so my reporting may be a little muddy for lack of coffee.

A news helicopter crashed into the street after takeoff about an hour ago, causing a fireball that enveloped 3 cars. Two people are dead, one has been taken to the Level 1 burn center in critical condition.

An eyewitness reports that it went down nose-first.

That's really all I know so far.

 

[Jungle Jim]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/18/us/seattle-helicopter-crash/

 

[deadrose]

A report from the news station whose copter was involved. http://www.komonews.com/news/local/News-helicopter-crashes-burns-beside-Space-Needle-250790281.html

 

[deadrose]

So, all you helicopter pilots, what would cause it to spin around counterclockwise in midair? That's the latest report from the eyewitnesses. They also report it was making an unusual noise.

The driver of the car that was burned has had his condition updated to serious, the burns were actually covering 15-20% of his body, not the 50% or more they'd initially reported.

I'm actually amazed how few injuries there were. The copter came down onto a major arterial in front of Seattle Center, right during the morning rush. The fact that it only destroyed 3 cars, and only caused severe injuries to one driver - that's a major piece of luck.

Unfortunately both the pilot and cameraman were DOA.

 

[Lensman]

I'm not a helicopter pilot, but from what I know of them, a tail rotor fault could cause the chopper to rotate counter clockwise.

 

[Corsair 115]

I'm not a helicopter pilot, but from what I know of them, a tail rotor fault could cause the chopper to rotate counter clockwise.

That's right. The tail rotor is there to counteract the torque the main rotor causes. Without the tail rotor the helicopter will spin in the direction opposite of the way the main rotor spins.

 

[Travis]

So what might cause a catastrophic tail rotor shutdown? Is it directly linked to the main turbine?

 

[Darth Rotor]

So what might cause a catastrophic tail rotor shutdown? Is it directly linked to the main turbine?

Not usually. Normally, it is driven by a gear from the main transmission. The engine/engines usually drive the transmission. A pinion (or some other gearing arrangement) is turned by the main transmission which spins a shaft which goes into a reduction gear box in the tail which makes the tail rotor spin.

That's a generic tail rotor methodology.

I'll try to find you a good illustration. Will post an edit shortly.
EDIT:
See page D-5 and D-6 of this .pdf

That one's a little more complicated since it is a two engine helicopter, but it hopefully shows you a useful picture of how the tail rotor gets driven.

 

[deadrose]

OK, further info. It was a Eurocopter AS350. Their usual helicopter was off having some new equipment installed, and this was the backup. They'd just come back from shooting footage and were freshly refueled when they took off.

The NTSB is currently finishing up the investigation at the site. Most of the attractions at Seattle Center ended up closing for the day since the main access street (and the Monorail) were out of commission.

 

[Checkmite]

Looking at the photos it seems incredible that the occupant of that car was able to escape, though as reported he didn't escape unscathed.