Maldives 212 accident.
mr_rot...@my-deja.com
B. Reg.No.: 8QMAY M/M: BH12 Desc: BELL 212 HELICOPTER
Activity: Business Phase: Take-off GA-A/C: Air Taxi (On Demand)
Descr: MALDIVIAN AIR TAXI (BELL 212 HELICOPTER) CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN
CIRCUMSTANCES SHORTLY AFTER TAKE-OFF AND SANK INTO THE SEA, THE
3 CREWMEMBERS AND 7 PAX ON BOARD ALL SUFFERED FATAL INJURIES,
THE ACFT WAS DESTROYED, OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES ARE UNKNOWN, RANGALI
ISLAND, MALDIVES.
Condolences to all involved.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Mitch
mr_rot...@my-deja.com wrote:
Nothing but rumors and the usual innuendo's. New operation, news reports
called it a "maiden flight". Chief Pilot for that operation and
owner/manager, both ex-Canadian Helicopters International/Offshore
pilots. Experience should have been there. A/C departed at 3 am in heavy
rain from one of the islands heading for the airport. On board were other
pilots, mechanics, and hotel staff. Operation was to shuttle passengers
from the airport to their hotels. With jets landing after dark, the idea
was to use helicopters. I thought Hummingbird was there with M-17's?
Right now Ken Borek Air shuttles them in the daytime with float-equipped
Twin Otters or Caravans.
Ground observers say that about a minute after T/O it nosed in and crashed
into 20 feet of water. Mechanical? Pilot Error? Pilot error dealing with
a mechanical? Hope we find out. BTW operation based out of Calgary,
Alberta. Eagle Helicopters/Venture Helicopters.
Condolences to all involved.
Micbloo
They had a serious crash in January where 5 were killed but never heard anymore
about the resumption of their operations.
Gerard
mr_rot...@my-deja.com
mic...@aol.com (Micbloo) wrote:
From today's Calgary Herald.
Canadian officials to investigate Indian Ocean 'copter crash
CALGARY (CP) - Senior Transport Canada crash investigators were headed
to the Maldives on Saturday to take part in determining the cause of a
helicopter crash in the Indian Ocean that took the lives of five
Canadians.
"Until our people get there, our information is limited," Jim Harris,
spokesman for the Transport Safety Board of Canada, said.
"We are going to be working closely with the Maldivians."
The helicopter had just been delivered from Canada and went down Friday
on its first fare-paying flight, shortly after taking off from a luxury
resort in the Maldives, a group of coral islands 480 kilometres west of
the southern tip of India.
The Canadian victims were Harry Chernetz, 51, and Michael Oryschak, 27,
of Calgary; Rob Procyshen, of Victoria; Steve Horton, 40, the co-pilot,
from Canmore, Alta. and Terry Benson, the pilot, from Vancouver. An
Australian, two Belgian tourists and two Maldivians also were killed.
The Canadians were a chartered crew from Venture Helicopters (MKC) Inc.
of Calgary, which was headed by Chernetz.
"You can imagine the grief we are experiencing right now," said a
family member reached at the Chernetz residence in Calgary.
"It's a real tragedy and we're shocked."
Chernetz left his Winnipeg-area home for a British Columbia helicopter
school shortly after high school and never looked back, said his cousin
George Chernetz, 56, of East St. Paul, Man.
"Helicopters were his whole life, he loved the business."
But even more important were his wife and three teenaged children, he
said.
Another cousin, Elaine Kidd, recalled the time Chernetz, en route to
Greenland, landed his helicopter on her Winnipeg acreage.
"We all went for a ride," said Kidd, adding Chernetz once appeared in a
Hollywood movie as a helicopter pilot.
Oryschak's father, Brian, said his son was in the Maldives to set up
the helicopter's maintenance plan.
"He was very good at what he did, very meticulous and a very hard
worker," Oryschak said.
His son, who had been married for three years, had criss-crossed Canada
during his three years as a flight engineer, his father said.
"He fought forest fires and did heli-logging and seismic work."
Dr. Sandra Mengler, a surgeon at the Mineral Springs Hospital in Banff,
Alta., was a close friend of Horton.
"He had these great big dimples, expressive eyes and an unbelievable
zest for life," she said.
"He was a real free spirit, always looking for the next adventure. When
he became a pilot, he really put everything into that and just loved
his job."
Horton was a world-class whitewater canoeist who made the Canadian
national team.
He was also a ski patroller. Aside from Venture, he was also a pilot
for Alpine Helicopters in Canmore and Great Slave Lake Helicopters.
Mike O'Reilly, who owns Eagle Copter Ltd., the Calgary-based company
that leased the helicopter to Maldivian Air Taxi, said the crew were
all experienced pilots.
"They were some of the best in the world, so it makes you wonder what
could have ever gone wrong," said O'Reilly.
Ken Simpkins, chief pilot of Maldivian Air Taxi, said Friday the Bell
212 helicopter crashed just after taking off in heavy rain from a
resort on the island Rangali.
"As far as we know, it was a normal takeoff and about one minute later,
some people on the resort heard a noise and (saw) it descending into
the ocean," said Simpkins.
The helicopter was flying from the Hilton Hotel resort on Rangali in
Ari atoll on a 20-minute flight to the Maldivian capital Male when it
crashed.
The bodies of the victims were recovered and sent to Male. Salvage
operations to lift the aircraft from the Indian Ocean seabed began
Friday.
Eagle has about 35 helicopters in its fleet and leases the aircraft to
international clients.
Maldivian Air Taxi was granted a licence to operate a helicopter only
this week.
(Calgary Herald)
© The Canadian Press, 1999
Mitch
Micbloo wrote:
Story on the 212 crash in our local paper at:
Re: Hummingbird crash - was that the one where the pilots thought they had a fire
and jumped out of the cabin while over water and the victims rode the pilotless
helo to the crash site?