R44 crashes into house in Newport Beach

[RDoug]

3 dead, 2 injured after helicopter crashes into house in Newport Beach, California

• A helicopter crashed into a house in a Newport Beach, California, neighborhood Tuesday, leaving at least three people dead and two others injured, the Newport Fire Department said. Fire Chief Chip Duncan confirmed the fatalities.
• A witness who spoke to CBS Los Angeles said he saw the chopper "drop like a rock." He also mentioned that he allegedly saw the pilot lying injured -- but alive -- on the grass. It's unclear if it was indeed the pilot.

 

[fholbert]

Might be this one. The paint looks the same and it did depart KSNA today.

 

[mrivc211]

We landed on 20R and saw them depart. We got to the office 15 minutes later and saw the news. RIP, my condolences to the families. Very sad day for us at SNA.

 

[dustoff17]

Might be this one. The paint looks the same and it did depart KSNA today.

Yeah, I think you're right but I'm pretty sure the tail number in the first post was a dead give away!!

According to the article, the witness said, " allegedly saw the pilot lying injured -- but alive -- on the grass".

Ummm....what?

 

[av8tr1]

Were there 5 people on board the R44? There are only 4 seats. Maybe one was a child in someone's lap?

 

[RDoug]

Were there 5 people on board the R44? There are only 4 seats. Maybe one was a child in someone's lap?

Reports are that one person on the ground was hit.

 

[av8tr1]

Yikes! Not to speculate but I'm thinking an auto gone wrong.

 

[Deleted member 27505]

Yeah, I think you're right but I'm pretty sure the tail number in the first post was a dead give away!!

According to the article, the witness said, " allegedly saw the pilot lying injured -- but alive -- on the grass".

Ummm....what?

That N753DR doesn't come up as a registration... ? Or is that what you meant?

 

[hammerhat]

Not to speculate but I'm thinking an auto gone wrong

Could be auto, could be something else. Robbies are notoriously unforgiving when it comes to overpitching and rotor RPM decay. Looks like there were four people in R44 on a hot day.

 

[knot4u]

.

 

[mrivc211]

It was noticeably harder to climb in GA today.

 

[RDoug]

That N753DR doesn't come up as a registration... ? Or is that what you meant?

I just checked out another photo (see below), and it appears to be N7530R, which is in the data base. If that's indeed the registration, it belonged to Spitzer Helicopter, LLC, of Riverside.

 

[RDoug]

Yep, that's the one: Three dead after helicopter crashes into Newport Beach home: 'You just knew something horrible had happened'

• Eric Spitzer, of Spitzer Helicopter Leasing, said he leased the R44 to Revolution Aviation, a flight school and touring company at John Wayne Airport.

 

[fholbert]

This AM's Local News:
~ All involved were adults.
~ One person hurt was painting a house. He was hit by debris.

 

[Deleted member 27505]

I just checked out another photo (see below), and it appears to be N7530R, which is in the data base. If that's indeed the registration, it belonged to Spitzer Helicopter, LLC, of Riverside.

My sleuthing skills are deteriorating. I checked N743OR, but not 0R, dammit! Good on' ya.

 

[Cessnaflyer]

My sleuthing skills are deteriorating. I checked N743OR, but not 0R, dammit! Good on' ya.

Aren't there no o or i used for registrations?

 

[obx]

There is a video on their Instagram account (ieatsleepfly) of a helo doing an auto rotation in which it appears to strike the tail boom (stinger?) on the ground. I am very naive about helo ops, so I have NO idea if this is typical. I don’t know how to provide the IG link, but you can search it.

Offering no judgement. Just saw the video and am passing it on, wondering if the helo guys have any input.

 

[av8tr1]

There is a video on their Instagram account (ieatsleepfly) of a helo doing an auto rotation in which it appears to strike the tail boom (stinger?) on the ground. I am very naive about helo ops, so I have NO idea if this is typical. I don’t know how to provide the IG link, but you can search it.

Offering no judgement. Just saw the video and am passing it on, wondering if the helo guys have any input.

Well the red and white bar on the bottom of the tail rotor is literally called the stinger. It’s there to protect the tail rotor from striking objects. It’s effect is limited for obvious reasons.

When doing full downs, which is an auto all the way to the ground, you generally try to level the ship before striking the tail. I’ve hit the tail on the ground before by not leveling at the right time and had no damage to the aircraft. But if you hit hard enough it’s an easy way to rip the tail off the ship. It’s common when learning the full down auto. And it doesn’t take much. Which is why it’s considered an advanced maneuver and not usually taught to private students.

Private students are generally taught to terminate the auto a few feet in the air. Generally 1.5 to 2 times of the length of the ship. That’s enough to survive the impact. The bird will likely be a total loss but the occupants will walk/limp away. Not saying I agree with the practice it’s just what is common for civilian students.

Once you hit commercial or CFI you start doing them all the way to the ground. And quickly it’s • and elbows at the end of the maneuver so you need to be comfortable flying the bird that a private level student isn’t going to be. Striking the tail and not is literally the difference of milliseconds.

 

[hammerhat]

Once you hit commercial or CFI you start doing them all the way to the ground

Not anymore. They replaced it with a "logbook endorsement" in the CFI PTS. And I don't think it's ever been on the Comm

 

[NovemberEcho]

Aren't there no o or i used for registrations?

I see 0's all the time in N-numbers. 8's are the tricky ones. I kept calling some poor Baron 5BP all morning but he was 58P