PA State Helo & Cessna 150 Midair

[Murdoughnut]

Based on comments given during the presser, helo was hovering in a grass area next to the runway when a C150 taking off veered from centerline and hit them from behind. At least one on the Cessna deceased, both helo crew members should recover, fortunately.

Pennsylvania State Police helicopter, small plane collide midair near Pennsylvania airport

A small airplane and a helicopter collided midair near the Carlisle airport in Pennsylvania's Cumberland Valley on Wednesday evening, according to the FAA.

abcnews.com

Lost all respect I would have otherwise had for Gov. Shapiro, who was all smiles and in a celebratory mode during this press conference, giving verbal high fives to the State Police and making political shout outs while entirely ignoring the fact that the Cessna pilot is deceased.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymvven1bgZQ

 

[Boris Badenov]

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9zuKPW2bMyY

 

[Ecl!pse]

I recognize I'm perpetuating online speculation here, but reading about this in other forums I learned something new: I did not realize helicopters produce substantial wake turbulence when hovering / taxiing like seen in the video above. Who knows if that was main cause or even contributing factor in this accident, but something I was blissfully unaware of and has apparently caused GA accidents in the past.

 

[MikeD]

I recognize I'm perpetuating online speculation here, but reading about this in other forums I learned something new: I did not realize helicopters produce substantial wake turbulence when hovering / taxiing like seen in the video above. Who knows if that was main cause or even contributing factor in this accident, but something I was blissfully unaware of and has apparently caused GA accidents in the past.

Rotor wash is something to be very aware of just as jet wash is, both as a pilot of a helicopter as well as a pilot of another aircraft. Granted, the amount of it will vary whether a light helicopter or a heavy helicopter. A light helo such as the involved Bell, isn’t going to produce turbulence outflow significant enough to flip an airplane over, but it can blow stuff around such as dust/pebbles etc. By the same token, the induced flow of air coming into the top
of a rotor system of a hovering helo means you don’t want to be passing close over the top of one either that is hovering or slow hover taxiing or air taxiing. None of this is to say that any of these factors are factors in this particular accident, it could simply be a case of failure to see and avoid the helo. That should he known in due time.

 

[Boris Badenov]

it could simply be a case of failure to see and avoid the helo.

I'm no expert but in the video looks to me as though the airplane is out of the normal envelope long before it hits the helo.

 

[CLTFly]

I recognize I'm perpetuating online speculation here, but reading about this in other forums I learned something new: I did not realize helicopters produce substantial wake turbulence when hovering / taxiing like seen in the video above. Who knows if that was main cause or even contributing factor in this accident, but something I was blissfully unaware of and has apparently caused GA accidents in the past.

Worse turbulence I've ever encountered as a pilot was from a Chinook that was ahead of me doing pattern work while I was landing at Dothan one night. It was violent.

Ever since then I've had a deep respect for helicopters and the wake they can produce.

With that said, I'm with Boris: the loss of control doesn't seem to be caused by rotor wash. At least to me it looks like something was going wrong long before it hit the helo.