Quick synopsis: Incoming pilot (Carol) is very experienced. She'd left not long before the on-ground helicopter (Mark) was wheeled out for take-off. The weather was getting worse. This caused Carol to abort her flight and return. Mark didn't have his radio on--didn't hear her call in. With engine started, he couldn't hear her approach. Mark was not lined up in the pad #2 box. Weather & noise caused Carol not to see Mark's rotor turning.
Square in this case, but yes. And pilot on right wasn't in his because he 'knew' the other pilot had just left and wasn't expecting them back, so he didn't think it was important, since he was about to take off.
Pilot on left still at fault - they flew into a parked aircraft - but pilot on right breaking procedure and bad helipad design that only had 2' of clearance between the blades when both helicopters are in their bounding box are major contributing factors.
Oh, also, no unified radio for the heliport, and the guy you see talking to the pilot on the right was walking out to tell that pilot to not take off due to bad weather - the reason the other pilot was coming back.
Injustice wanna say how well marked that danger zone is. All the danger was kept pretty much in that zone. A bit of danger skipped out but the level of danger had decreased vastly by than.
Thank you for this. So pilot on the ground was parked wrong. Pilot that landed didn't accommodate and the whole situation happened because the landing pad was terribly designed. Which all, ultimately, means that the taxpayer gets to fork out a few million to fix something that could have been avoided in the first place.
Insane that such a heliport setup was allowed to happen, I'd say the majority of fault lies there in creating circumstances like this with zero margin for error and zero oversight.
At the VERY end he gets to the root of the problem. There's a big yellow square on Pad 1 that indicates where you're supposed to park a helicopter to avoid a rotor conflict. The guys pulling the helicopter into position got lazy and put it in a position to get hit. Their fault.
It looks like the markings are flat paint, not the thick stuff used for road lines, so it was probably invislble with cloud cover reflecting off the slick concrete. I mean, I can't see it, and i'm looking right at it!
I can see it pretty clearly in the video even with the rain and water. To be REALLY frank, when I first saw them pulling it out, my mind kept freaking out that they were not centering on that square and I wondered if it was what I thought it should be. THEN the rotors struck. Apparently it was visible enough to give me the heebie jeebies before anything happened.
Lucky pilots, that helipad is an accident waiting to happen. Fuel farm is right next to an active HLZ, I'm surprised nothing got slung into it and exploded. He was only 6 feet outside of that yellow box. You're telling me, you have 3 feet of clearance, each side, for two active HLZs? Get the fuck out of here, I'm surprised everybody didn't die, and that whole shit show didn't turn into a fiery crater.
Bunnies007
Oi mate! You can't park there!
pr3viso
Sword fight
WarlockWithNoPatron
Can't park there, mate
marthafarquar
sharkbirdbitecaw
Duh, even *I* know that, and I can't fly or land either!
ricpaul
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mikeatike
YurtleAhern
They touched tips
KickStartMyShart
Just the tip
FellaWithUmbrella
Looks expensive.
Wardonk3y
Couple million dollars a piece
thomn8r
Player two has entered the game
Type17
Game Over.
SillySnowFox
That's one way to get it on the ground...
cytherians
Proximity alert... busted.
DwarfHoldsTheWorld
S/He dead?
tallyhoho
That guy looks to have been extremely lucky to not get hurt
freakdiablo
Oh it's possible he was. That adrenaline dump is a hell of a drug.
cytherians
Quick synopsis:
Incoming pilot (Carol) is very experienced. She'd left not long before the on-ground helicopter (Mark) was wheeled out for take-off. The weather was getting worse. This caused Carol to abort her flight and return. Mark didn't have his radio on--didn't hear her call in. With engine started, he couldn't hear her approach. Mark was not lined up in the pad #2 box. Weather & noise caused Carol not to see Mark's rotor turning.
TL;DR? -- both pilots at fault
kaneinencanto
With a bit of poor layout that has since been updated, as well.
yourcomment
Since this incident, the landing layout has been updated…
RayIsPrettyOkay
spiceass9000
That’s right. The brown hole
eastend666
Recipe please? TIA
rubypilgrim
Helicopter stories begin with "I knew this guy who had a helicopter..." and end with "...and he rolled it into a ball."
WeMistbornsNeedNotMakeSense
Well, he parked on what looks to be DANGER zone
andwings2go
I thought there was big yellow circles on the concrete for this very reason.
sunyudai
Square in this case, but yes. And pilot on right wasn't in his because he 'knew' the other pilot had just left and wasn't expecting them back, so he didn't think it was important, since he was about to take off.
Pilot on left still at fault - they flew into a parked aircraft - but pilot on right breaking procedure and bad helipad design that only had 2' of clearance between the blades when both helicopters are in their bounding box are major contributing factors.
sunyudai
Oh, also, no unified radio for the heliport, and the guy you see talking to the pilot on the right was walking out to tell that pilot to not take off due to bad weather - the reason the other pilot was coming back.
AllTheGoodOnesWereGone
IT SAYS IT RIGHT THERE!
PandaWaffleking
Injustice wanna say how well marked that danger zone is. All the danger was kept pretty much in that zone. A bit of danger skipped out but the level of danger had decreased vastly by than.
PandaWaffleking
I just. Not injustice lol
ThisismyconfessionTherearemanylikeitButthisoneismine
I saw it coming and my stomach dropped out. Glad he survived
skyfishgur
pilot error... no excuse for not making sure you have the room to land.
apLundell
To be fair, they did paint the word "DANGER" right on the pavement. They weren't wrong.
Vineheart01
Moment I saw the 2nd copter I'm just going "nonononono NO NOOOO!!"
stronomer
Well, that disassembled quickly.
Northwindlowlander
The one on the ground should have crouched to go under the blades
fishboy81
https://youtu.be/whbr_TUZA2k?si=VlBoDtFPzXZZvoQl Here's an analysis of the debrief for anyone interested on how something like this can happen
kitskinner19538
That was brilliant, well presented and everything makes sense.
RichardPotato
Here's text for olds like me
https://www.therunwaycentreline.com/blog/2020/5/17/accident-review-pasadena-pd-helicopter-collision
notacobra
Thank you for this.
So pilot on the ground was parked wrong. Pilot that landed didn't accommodate and the whole situation happened because the landing pad was terribly designed.
Which all, ultimately, means that the taxpayer gets to fork out a few million to fix something that could have been avoided in the first place.
Flodos
Insane that such a heliport setup was allowed to happen, I'd say the majority of fault lies there in creating circumstances like this with zero margin for error and zero oversight.
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
and then a few assumptions were made, including "I got no reply on the radio so I guess Mark isn't taking off" and "Carol's still out there flying"
Jarsyl
Pretty sure the mistake was having the two helicopter blades collide.
fishboy81
Definitely the biggest contributing factor yes
Jbelkin
Only if you get hired as a $75k consulting gig to follow up on this accident and make recommendations.
oldguyexlurker
At the VERY end he gets to the root of the problem. There's a big yellow square on Pad 1 that indicates where you're supposed to park a helicopter to avoid a rotor conflict. The guys pulling the helicopter into position got lazy and put it in a position to get hit. Their fault.
Taalii
Their fault yes but also the designer fault, never should have been made possible.
ruint
It looks like the markings are flat paint, not the thick stuff used for road lines, so it was probably invislble with cloud cover reflecting off the slick concrete.
I mean, I can't see it, and i'm looking right at it!
oldguyexlurker
I can see it pretty clearly in the video even with the rain and water. To be REALLY frank, when I first saw them pulling it out, my mind kept freaking out that they were not centering on that square and I wondered if it was what I thought it should be. THEN the rotors struck. Apparently it was visible enough to give me the heebie jeebies before anything happened.
keystotheairlock
....the rotors knocked into each other?
fishboy81
Ultimately, yes. That was the biggest mistake, but it wall was avoidable
vernicator
I think the technical term is...shabonked into each other. Or it it kerplooied?
keystotheairlock
It seems like the first, immediately followed by the second. Glad that dude got out okay. Hope the other guy's okay.
Apothecarius
From looking at their helipad, and how they were doing ops, I'm surprised it took 40 years for them to have an incident.
rusrsdude
Must have really good/lucky pilots
Apothecarius
Lucky pilots, that helipad is an accident waiting to happen. Fuel farm is right next to an active HLZ, I'm surprised nothing got slung into it and exploded. He was only 6 feet outside of that yellow box. You're telling me, you have 3 feet of clearance, each side, for two active HLZs? Get the fuck out of here, I'm surprised everybody didn't die, and that whole shit show didn't turn into a fiery crater.
ionlyregisteredtosavelinks
Agreed it looks like a dangerous setup, but shit doesn't explode that easily. Life's not really Hollywood. In most cases anyway.