3 separate helicopters crashes in west Palm B
 

Robinson helicopters are an accident looking for a place to happen.

With the limited information on the post, how exactly do you quantify that statement? How much helo time do you have? How much time in a R-xx series do you have? For the record, Robinson Helicopters have an EXCELLENT safety record with regard to accidents resulting from catastrophic failures. Most of the accidents have been pilot related. Just check the last three years statistics from NTSB. I attribute it to lack of Emergency Procedure training, and poor instruction.

Being a dual-rated dude has caused me to be very pessimistic when I am up at cruise. Whether it is a helo or a airplane I am constantly looking for places to land if my engine quits. It isn't so much of a big deal with an empty -47, because it will fly like a champ on one engine. But a Robbie, Schweizer, Bell, Cessna, etc., anything with one engine, I am looking for fields, roads, or whatever WHEN that engine quits.

The first accident sounds like a either a tail-rotor shaft failure, or a gearbox failure, something that any helicopter pilot worth their salt should know how to address if they are flying an airframe with a tail-rotor. Based on my experience with tail-rotor equipped airframes, and the lack of torque that aircraft has, he executed the correct emergency procedure. It can and has happened about as often in your standard Bell's. Sometimes **** just fails, just like a fixed-wing airframe.

If these aircraft were all from the same contractor, I would blame maintenance. However, since they were all from different businesses, that leads me to think that it is either a quality control issue with parts, or the guys on the sticks didn't execute something correctly. It has nothing to do with airframe specificity. Plus, when you put three aircraft within the same small area, close to the ground, without any outside control, lack of vigilance will bite you the ass.

...and they didn't even have anyone shooting at them, either.

Yeah that was a trip hearing about 3 crashes in one day. Thank God there were no fatalities.


atp