Spectacular Mystery Accident (nobody hurt) – who's got the details?

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I think the problem with the blade synchronisation still exists, today, with the RAF Chinooks.

Nope.

UUoret love the photos….this aircraft floated for a good time and IIRC only sunk after it was towed back towards Aberdeen….

The Chinook can be used to land on water etc. I found it amusing that our trials film was given out free with a Magazine as part of a Boeing disk! It is wrongly attributed to US forces on Youtube when I looked some time ago!

The chinook crash in November 1986 sticks in my mind as I was working my first trip offshore when it happened only a few days after I got onboard. I knew a couple of the guys who died and it was pretty grim reading the details of it offshore knowing that in a week or so you would have to climb aboard a helicopter and fly back to Shetland yourself.

The guys and girls out on the rigs deserve full credit for the jobs they do, it’s far from an easy life out there let alone getting to and from their place of work!

Regards
Linzee

Fully agree – I did 14years (Ekofisk, Alexander Kielland, 36/22, 37/4, Cormorant, Dunlin, North Cormorant, Brent Charlie, Auk Alpha, FSU then ending on the Fulmar Alpha in 1991) – happy days but never again!

The chinook crash in November 1986 sticks in my mind as I was working my first trip offshore when it happened only a few days after I got onboard. I knew a couple of the guys who died and it was pretty grim reading the details of it offshore knowing that in a week or so you would have to climb aboard a helicopter and fly back to Shetland yourself.

The guys and girls out on the rigs deserve full credit for the jobs they do, it’s far from an easy life out there let alone getting to and from their place of work!

Regards
Linzee

And if my memory serves me right, the loadmaster and one pilot survived and, luckily, the Sumburgh SK61 SAR (GBDOC) was already airborne, in the area, on a training detail, so was on scene quickly.
I think the cause of the accident was that the individual rotor blades went out of sync causing them to collide with disastrous consequences. After that accident Shell UK, the customer, insisted BAH stopped flying the Chinook and they used other smaller types.
I think the problem with the blade synchronisation still exists, today, with the RAF Chinooks.

Here is the AAIB Report for G-BWFC

http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/publications/formal_reports/2_1988_g_bwfc.cfm

The Captain and 1 passenger survived (the passenger was sitting in seat 1A, rearward facing)

BA had a fatal crash 2.5 miles from Sumburgh on 6th November 1986 – 45 killed, 2 survived. A/c was G-BWFC

And if my memory serves me right, the loadmaster and one pilot survived and, luckily, the Sumburgh SK61 SAR (GBDOC) was already airborne, in the area, on a training detail, so was on scene quickly.
I think the cause of the accident was that the individual rotor blades went out of sync causing them to collide with disastrous consequences. After that accident Shell UK, the customer, insisted BAH stopped flying the Chinook and they used other smaller types.
I think the problem with the blade synchronisation still exists, today, with the RAF Chinooks.

My Grandad worked for British Airways Helicopters on the Scilly Isles for a long time, he never liked the Chinook and stated the company didn’t either.
Didn’t BA (or another rig operator) suffer a fatal with Chinook?

My Grandfather was on shift on that horendous day for S-61N ‘ON 16 July 1983, and it is a day I will never forget – even remember what I was doing, the weather, and news reports clearly even though I was only 12.

I can remember BA using S-76 Spirits and WG-13 (fat Lynx!).

BA had a fatal crash 2.5 miles from Sumburgh on 6th November 1986 – 45 killed, 2 survived. A/c was G-BWFC

My Grandad worked for British Airways Helicopters on the Scilly Isles for a long time, he never liked the Chinook and stated the company didn’t either.
Didn’t BA (or another rig operator) suffer a fatal with Chinook?

G-BEON crashed on 16th July, 1983 with the loss of twenty lives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Helicopters#Accidents_and_incidents

AAIB report on G-BISO.

http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/publications/formal_reports/5_1987_g_biso.cfm

Can confirm that the aircraft is now N235CH, c/n MJ002.

Judging by pic 2 it seems to have stayed more or less upright and on the surface long enough for an orderly evac and for the the rescuers to arrive.

Why was the Chinook particularly disliked – noise, resonance, size or just the way it looked – perhaps dis-belief in it’s ability to get up and stay up?

My Grandad worked for British Airways Helicopters on the Scilly Isles for a long time, he never liked the Chinook and stated the company didn’t either.
Didn’t BA (or another rig operator) suffer a fatal with Chinook?

My Grandfather was on shift on that horendous day for S-61N ‘ON 16 July 1983, and it is a day I will never forget – even remember what I was doing, the weather, and news reports clearly even though I was only 12.

I can remember BA using S-76 Spirits and WG-13 (fat Lynx!).

A quick scout round on the net shows it is currently on the US civil registry as N235CH in Oregon.

What is even more worrying is the AAIB report states that trials with an inverted Chinook in the States showed that only around 4 people get out of each hatch….something they don’t tell you at the survival course!

….at least the survival suits worked!!

The accident report states the aircraft was recovered…..anybody know what happened to it?

ISTR that BAH used it as an engine/component test bed at Aberdeen for a while – it never flew again, certainly whilst it was in the UK.

Could it be the one reported in The Scotsman newspaper? A Chinook ditched 125 miles north of Shetland in May 1984, all 44 passengers and 3 crew were rescued.

Makes me shudder looking at those photographs, nobody ever liked flying in those Chinooks. Come to think of it I don’t think anyone ever enjoyed the commute to/from work in any type of helicopter. Having to do the underwater helicopter escape training before going offshore certainly gave you food for thought!

Regards
Linzee

What is even more worrying is the AAIB report states that trials with an inverted Chinook in the States showed that only around 4 people get out of each hatch….something they don’t tell you at the survival course!

The accident report states the aircraft was recovered…..anybody know what happened to it?

All of those people are extremely lucky, I imagine it would have been a very different ending if the sea state was as bad as that area is famous for.

Paul

The aircraft was was G-BISO, in the last photo the G-B SO is visible, operated by British Airways Helicopters Ltd.

The report is available from the AAIB site at http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources/5-1987%20G-BISO.pdf

Could it be the one reported in The Scotsman newspaper? A Chinook ditched 125 miles north of Shetland in May 1984, all 44 passengers and 3 crew were rescued.

Makes me shudder looking at those photographs, nobody ever liked flying in those Chinooks. Come to think of it I don’t think anyone ever enjoyed the commute to/from work in any type of helicopter. Having to do the underwater helicopter escape training before going offshore certainly gave you food for thought!

Regards
Linzee

Blub…..

Another Clue….

A Chinook doing side stroke curious , seriously , looks like the finale to a successful water landing as the blades appear to be intaked .