Sherriff's Office Helicopter Down

[pilottravis]

Tough one to watch this morning and close to me. Broward County Sherriff's Office helicopter was filmed trailing smoke and the separating the tail boom before spiraling into an apartment. Out of the 3 onboard it appears one has passed including another person on the ground. In one video the other two crewmembers were climbing down off of the roof away from the fire.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/fire-rescue-helicopter-crashes-florida-2-hospitalized/story?id=102617239

 

[GSCJR]

Saw that on Local 10 breaking news this morning.

 

[SatinSilver]

Looks like an EC with the enclosed tail rotor. I like the look of them but they've had their fair share of accidents. At least the pilot was able to keep relative control of it. Crashing into the apartment softened the landing but probably killed someone inside.

 

[RooflessVW]

Looks like an EC with the enclosed tail rotor. I like the look of them but they've had their fair share of accidents. At least the pilot was able to keep relative control of it. Crashing into the apartment softened the landing but probably killed someone inside.

Every EC incident I'm aware of has been pilot error. I'm not saying this one was, but I will say that public use aircraft and aviators are a whole world that I'm not too keen on. In my experience the "standards" are pretty lax.

 

[y_p_w]

Looks like an EC with the enclosed tail rotor. I like the look of them but they've had their fair share of accidents. At least the pilot was able to keep relative control of it. Crashing into the apartment softened the landing but probably killed someone inside.

I see nothing here of what their inventory of aircraft are.

https://www.sheriff.org/LE/Pages/SpecialUnits/Aviation-Unit.aspx

I do find it remarkable that they managed to snag sheriff.org before anyone else. Right now there's a memorial to Capt. Jackson, who was their fatality in this crash. I find it remarkable that anyone survived that crash.

OK - the photo they have is not of an Airbus/EuroCopter/Aerospatiale. But the crash video looks like a fenestron. I found this from Airbus:

ROTOR on line - A publication of Eurocopter - Broward County: The Sheriff’s helicopters

ROTOR on line - A publication of Eurocopter by Because (www.because.fr) ROTOR on line is published with Isotools Studio (www.isotools.com)

www.airbushelicopters.com

A fine selection of the Eurocopter range is lined up ready for takeoff on the apron of Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, a few miles north of Miami: an AS350 B2 Ecureuil, an EC130 and an EC135, all three in Broward Sheriff’s Office livery.​

​

“Our business relationship with Eurocopter dates back to 1987,” recalls Sergeant Dale Owens, who has headed the BSO’s Aviation Unit for the past two years. “We started out with three AS350 B Ecureuils. After that, we operated AS350 B1 Ecureuils before upgrading to the B2 in 2001.” Two of the Ecureuils have meanwhile been replaced by an EC130 and an EC135. “We didn’t have enough money to buy two EC135s,” observes Sergeant Owens. “However, the EC130 was another excellent choice due to its wide cabin and its similarity to the AS350 B1s that we already had.”​

Broward County covers a surface area of 2 600 km2 (26 x 40 miles), with a long coastline. A large section of the county lies in the marshy Everglades, where helicopters are essential for patrol missions and for rapid medevac operations whenever necessary.​

 

[bullwinkle]

That was terrible to watch-how did the tail come disconnected from the rest of the chopper? No way to begin to control that... Amazing only 2 people died!

 

[joekingcorvette]

Yes, it look like it was almost cut apart on the tail end. Not good.

 

[RooflessVW]

That was terrible to watch-how did the tail come disconnected from the rest of the chopper? No way to begin to control that... Amazing only 2 people died!

The way to control it is to immediately head to the ground when you see that fire light.

 

[thastinger]

That is crazy, could you imagine just being inside your apartment making a jimmy dean sausage biscuit and a helicopter comes through your roof? I guess when your time is up it's up but that is some Final Destination type stuff.

 

[mk378]

The way to control it is to immediately head to the ground when you see that fire light.

It does look like it could have been on fire but still flyable for long enough to make a controlled landing. Maybe the crew was not aware of the fire though. It seemed to be making straight and level flight right up to the moment it started to break apart.

 

[ctechbob]

Juan Brown taking a look at it.

I didn't realize that it was only in the air for something like 3 min.

 

[RooflessVW]

It's important to note that not many EC135 helicopters have fire suppression.

I have had my hands on 15(ish) separate EC135s and exactly one has had a fire suppression system.

 

[Cujet]

Horrible, I feel for everyone involved, this is terrible beyond words. JB mentioned that "what looks to be" an engine fire burned off the tail boom. The engine has a Titanium firewall, and it is very well sealed from the fuselage and tail boom. The tailpipe, for example, is well encased in a Ti, tube that extends aft of the engine cowl, exiting above the height of the tail boom.

Of course, this is rated to provide adequate fire protection in normal conditions. If the engine physically came apart, it could perforate this firewall and provide fuel to the area. The thing is, the engine is well forward of the tail boom.

The tail boom is carbon fiber and clearly cannot withstand a fire.

The aircraft has an electrically driven air conditioning system located under the LH tailpipe, and directly against the tailboom. It is possible this unit had recently been replaced. There is an AD out due to electrical fires in one of the possible choices (different brands) for air conditioning units.

 

[RooflessVW]

Horrible, I feel for everyone involved, this is terrible beyond words. JB mentioned that "what looks to be" an engine fire burned off the tail boom. The engine has a Titanium firewall, and it is very well sealed from the fuselage and tail boom. The tailpipe, for example, is well encased in a Ti, tube that extends aft of the engine cowl, exiting above the height of the tail boom.

Of course, this is rated to provide adequate fire protection in normal conditions. If the engine physically came apart, it could perforate this firewall and provide fuel to the area. The thing is, the engine is well forward of the tail boom.

The tail boom is carbon fiber and clearly cannot withstand a fire.

The aircraft has an electrically driven air conditioning system located under the LH tailpipe, and directly against the tailboom. It is possible this unit had recently been replaced. There is an AD out due to electrical fires in one of the possible choices (different brands) for air conditioning units.

If it was an AC or battery fire he would not have gotten a fire light. He may not have known anything was wrong which would explain his flight path.

 

[Cujet]