Fatal Crash at Robinson

Chopper collision in Torrance

Thursday, November 6, 2003

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(11-06) 16:33 PST TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) --

Two helicopters collided in mid-air over the municipal airport
Thursday afternoon, killing two people and injuring a third, police
said.

The crash took place at about 3:30 p.m. at the Torrance Airport, Lt.
Mark Hein said.

Two of the dead were from one helicopter and the injured person was
from the other, said Officer Dave Crespin. The survivor had leg and
head injuries, Hein said.

The identity of the victims and the cause of the crash were not
immediately known.

Two victims were on a Robinson R-44, a four-seat helicopter, and the
survivor was aboard a two-seat R-22, Federal Aviation Administration
officials said.

The flight plans of the two aircraft were not immediately known.

Robinson, which is based at the airport, produces a popular line of
helicopters that are widely used for news, police and training. The
company says the R-44 is the world's most popular helicopter.

A call seeking comment from the company was not immediately answered
Thursday.

The burnt wreckage of one helicopter was on a runway and a second,
more intact helicopter was in a cornfield nearby.

One covered body could be seen on the runway of the airport 20 miles
southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Guy Hindenberger, an auto detailer for a nearby car dealership, was in
its second floor parking lot when he and an attendant heard the crash.
He said it appeared the helicopters were about 300 or 400 feet above
the airport when they collided.

"We turned around and looked and saw two helicopters that had
contacted in mid-air. We could see the tails on both the helicopters
seemed to be bent," he said. "One went straight down to the tarmac and
exploded instantly," and the other fell out of sight behind airport
buildings.

"I was in shock," he said. "I couldn't believe it. ... I'd rather
watch it in a movie than see it in person."

Torrance newspaper link:

http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/news/nmcrash7.html

On 07 Nov 2003 16:04:40 GMT, wrote:


Torrance newspaper link:

http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/news/nmcrash7.html

The gentleman I rent hangar space from was an eye witness to the
incident & first one to the R-22. He said the R-22 pilot was cut up
pretty bad & appeared to have broken both legs. He was in a lot of
pain. The R-44 appeared to lose its MR blades & tail boom in the mid
air. It went straight down middle of the runway in front of the tower.
Very messy. I'll leave it at that.

The gentleman I rent hangar space from was an eye witness to the
incident & first one to the R-22. He said the R-22 pilot was cut up
pretty bad & appeared to have broken both legs. He was in a lot of
pain. The R-44 appeared to lose its MR blades & tail boom in the mid
air. It went straight down middle of the runway in front of the tower.
Very messy. I'll leave it at that.

Did he have any thoughts as to how the two managed to get that close
to each other in front of the tower?

Eric D wrote:

The gentleman I rent hangar space from was an eye witness to the
incident & first one to the R-22. He said the R-22 pilot was cut up
pretty bad & appeared to have broken both legs. He was in a lot of
pain. The R-44 appeared to lose its MR blades & tail boom in the mid
air. It went straight down middle of the runway in front of the tower.
Very messy. I'll leave it at that.

Did he have any thoughts as to how the two managed to get that close
to each other in front of the tower?

I heard the the student pilot in the R22 turned the WRONG WAY
in the pattern.

It sounds like R22 student was supposed to make right traffic,
but turned left instead and ran into the R44 which was in
left traffic on the left runway.
The R22 pilot could not see out to the left side, while sitting
in the right seat on solo.

Did he have any thoughts as to how the two managed to get that close
to each other in front of the tower?

Very easy! Twice airport controllers have tried to kill me. Once was at Santa
Barbara when I will cleared to depart via runway 33R from the helipads while a
Cessna 414 was on short final to 15L. We both saw each other and took evasive
action and missed by about 200 ft. The other time was this year September 26
at Burbank. I was cleared to depart and "cross both runways". At about 100 -
200 ft somewhere out of the cluter on the radio I heard someone SCREAM
"helicopter right, RIGHT, RIGHT, as most pilots I listen for my call sign, but
I thought "hey that's funny I am a helicopter", then I thought well I guess it
can't hurt to break hard right and dive, which is what I did and the American
Airlines MD 80 flashed by at about 10 feet doing 190 knots. As soon as I saw
the cockpit out of the corner of my eye I leveled the rotors as I was banked 90
degrees, I think this saved my life otherwise the wing would have cliped my
rotors. The American Airlines pilot thought he had hit me.

So you see just because you are talking to the tower does not mean they know
what they are doing. The jet had take off clearnance before I was even on
tower freq and he was from my 7. He thought the controller would tell me to
stay on the north side ...