25 March 2010

A Fatal In Tennessee

ThirdWaveDave emailed with the terrible news of another fatal EMS helicopter crash, an AStar in Tennessee.
I flew a "D" model AStar three years for a construction company...
(It was the aircraft I wrote about having the unreliable Lycoming engine. This one was a "B" model with the Turbomeca engine.)
The aircraft is roomy and quiet, and visibility out of it is wonderful... which is the reason you see so many of them used in giving aerial tours.
But I sometimes woke with night sweats after nightmares dreaming what it would be like to fly the thing in "IMC"...
Instrument Meteorological Conditions.
In Europe its nickname is "Escureil"...
"Squirrel"... for good reason. I think it's the most dynamically unstable aircraft I've ever flown. Trying to fly it under instrument conditions, and worse... at night, would verify that nightmare.
Let's watch as this investigation unfolds.
Three people trying to help others, now dead.
May they rest in peace.

1 comment:

Cissy Apple said...

Saw it on the news and thought of you. I said a prayer to keep my buddy GB safe from harm.