Helikopter - East River havariet - AIN

Jeg viser til innlegget mitt den 13. hvor jeg skriver om observasjonen jeg gjorde fra videoen tatt like før helikopteret setter seg i vannet. Det ser ut til at fremre høyre flyteelement ikke er helt oppblåst. Det høres merkelig ut at det finnes en gulvmontert "fuel cut-off control". Det er jo å be om trouble før eller siden. (Red.) NYC Helo Crash Puts Spotlight on ‘Doors-off’ Flights

The NTSB's investigation into the fatal March 11 crash of a “doors off” helicopter photo tour flight into New York's East River will continue for months, but key areas of interest likely will be the supplemental passenger restraint systems and the emergency pop-out floats. The FAA has since ordered a stop to “doors off” operations that involve restraints that cannot be released quickly in an emergency. N350LH was a 2013 Airbus Helicopters AS350B2 owned by Meridian I Consulting and operated by Liberty Helicopters for FlyNYon under the Part 91 aerial photography exemption. Five passengers and one pilot were aboard when it crashed at approximately 7:08 p.m, 11 minutes after takeoff from the Helo Kearny (65NJ) heliport in New Jersey. Moments after being cleared into Class B airspace at 2,000 feet, pilot Richard Vance, 33, radioed a mayday call and indicated an engine failure. Amateur video showed Vance performing an autorotation into the East River, where the helicopter sank. Vance emerged from the wreckage within 90 seconds and was taken aboard a New York Fire Department (FDNY) tug. However, it took rescuers considerably longer to free the passengers—all in their 20s and 30s—described as “tightly harnessed” by the FDNY, and all died. While the exact cause of the accident remains under investigation, Vance reportedly told investigators that a passenger harness became entangled with the floor-mounted fuel cutoff control. Several post-accident photos appear to show partial inflation of the tri-bag pop-out float system, but they are not conclusive. Read Expanded Version