Have a read of NTSB accident report CEN21LA109. PS, it's been pretty funning listening to all the so called experts under this video and other videos of this incident, who claim x thousands of hours as pilots, flight mechanics, military, etc, with me knowing all the while that they were 100% wrong and yet they were 100% sure of themselves. The NTSB in their report confirmed what I had been saying, all along going back those two years since it happened. "I'm a military pilot with x,xxx hours in this, that and the other"... "I'm a flight mechanic of XX years"... "I've been doing this since before you were a twinkle in your daddy's eye!", "Go back to your flight sims kid"... etc etc and they were all WRONG! LOL The mag switch was set to OFF, so says the NTSB. There was an intermittent ground connection on one of the p-leads, so says the NTSB. Exactly what I said from day one. _"The_ _National_ _Transportation_ _Safety_ _Board_ _determines_ _the_ _probable_ _cause(s)_ _of_ _this_ _accident_ _to_ _be:_ _The_ _pilot’s_ _inadequate_ _pretakeoff_ _checks_ _which_ _resulted_ _in_ _the_ _magneto_ _switch_ _(key)_ _remaining_ _in_ _the_ _OFF_ _position_ _during_ _the_ _takeoff_ _sequence_ _and_ _initial_ _climb_ _and_ _the_ _right_ _magneto_ _grounding_ _intermittently."_
@@siennavanlife9502I must have watched this video 1000 times now. I can't count how many times I've watched this and just thought "wow WTF." So many things wrong with not making sure both magnetos are switched to "both" before taking off. You know read the high velocity diagram remember after taking off not to fly so low over trees. Real good hover to transverse flow to ETL take off profile. But you know probably wouldn't have thought the one Magneto he switched to was going to fail on him. Got the collective down, held it down, maintained a decent AirSpeed and RPMs and before he hit that tree and chopped the tail he looked like he had a good flare going. And it was a very nice landing no one was hurt not even a scratch it seems. Robinson does very well with those spring and yield skids. Could have been much worst. This is definitely the key to not being obsessed with radio calls and navigating before you go flying make sure you aviate, navigate, communicate. He didn't get mad and didn't Panic that's for sure and made a good Landing it was a good Auto. Pretty good flying. Just don't forget how important your startup checks are make sure to check both magnetos. I also sort of doubt he looked at the needles for much of a drop on the one Magneto he did test that he left on the on position he probably would have seen something was wrong. But yeah this is what muscle memory is All About damn good Landing. Maybe he could have brought the RPMs down to 90% And attempted a Max Glide might have gone over the tree. But obviously if you're starting the auto at 300 ft you don't have time for that. He had to 90° it as well so with the decision-making process he had to make the turn and did not necessarily even have much of a time to look for the landing spot and was trying to maintain the airspeed and RPMs at the same time. Anyone who has attempted 180°s knows that you have just seconds to make those decisions. You know just make sure like any pilot that looks for power lines that your flying high above them and you generally Fly Above the tree directly over it which might seem to backwards to someone that's not a pilot but for a pilot you understand that it's easier than to turn away from the tree if you lose the engine just like you practice when flying cross countries we're doing autos at the field and avoiding obstacles it's easier to turn away from the tree if you're directly over it then being near it and not flying directly over it and then having to turn and make the bad decision of actually going towards it because you have to make a split decision in seconds. And it's always 500 ft above obstacles 500 ft you're only 300 ft if you're above the grass which he started out with a good hover at the translation of lift to transverse flow to ETL profile but obviously didn't do the PreFlight correctly didn't fly over the trees correctly but did a damn good auto. And with Robinson like Bell and all other companies whoever they get the skids from those are manufactured spring and yield so even a hard Landing like that chopping off the tail which could potentially turn into full LTE if they didn't land so fast or forget LTE if they would have just been straight nose down like a pushover but he had a good glad profile a good level attitude the spring and yield came in handy and no one was hurt. Edit: was even talking to someone a few months ago about this video. They were like "how was that a good flare? They hit the tree." I said "no way if it wasn't a good Flair then instead of the tail hitting the tree they would have hit the tree. He had that flare coming up just correctly right about the height of that tree in about 40 ft begin cyclic flaire. Also the tail was chopped and he had just the right amount of speed directions and RPMs to have enough momentum that the helicopter continued a little to the ground without LTE without the tail or screw LTE there's no vertical stabilizer anymore so without a full straight nose down Landing. This is what auto rotation practice is for. Its why radio calls are third. Navigation is second. Aviate is first it's aviate navigate communicate. You know as I said before just taking a little more time to check those magnetos and make sure the needles don't drop too high of a percentage it's one of the most important things on that checklist. That's all. But the auto was muscle memory that's for sure
"Great job by the pilot" for leaving the mags in OFF position. As a former pilot you should've seen that. Also with the speed he was going the autorotation landing should've been much smoother. Otherwise "GREAT JOB"
From the NTSB final accident report: "Probable Cause: The pilot's inadequate pretakeoff checks which resulted in the magneto switch (key) remaining in the OFF position during the takeoff sequence and initial climb and the right magneto grounding intermittently." Pilot took off with the Mags in the OFF position. Engine continued to run because right magneto was not grounding properly. Well, it grounded properly a short time after liftoff. ;) Luckily pilot had significant forward airspeed despite being at a low altitude, facilitating the successful autorotation without injury to any on board. Had the helo been in a low airspeed/hover scenario at the altitude engine failure occurred (so-called deadman's curve), thing could've gotten ugly in a hurry. Pilot should've detected mag grounding problem during engine runup (which he did NOT perform). Becoming airborne with the ignition in the OFF position saved the lives of several hogs though I guess?
If you watch the video you actually see him go to shut the mags off and that's when he realizes, they were off. He was about to say something about it and shrugged and said "it's alright". Bad deal for sure, at least nobody got hurt.
@@palacio802 forgetting the mags for sure was a mistake, but still he did a great job with safely landing the helicopter from such a low altitude. respects to this guy
@@pseipp in this world of RU-vid I always detect a lot of conformism and optimism. But let me tell you this pilot is supposed to be a professional and autorotation in an R44 is a fairly simple maneuver that is practiced a lot. On the other hand, he destroys the helicopter (look at the tail). All this after having caused the engine failure himself due to his incompetence. In my company he would not last a second longer in his position. And the insurance company probably won't pay.
@@palacio802 Wow, so glad you got your "I'll never make a mistake in my life" certification. Everyone in aviation knows only stupid incompetent people make mistakes. I know that, cuz I've never made a mistake. I'm smart.
@@HobbyOrganist it's not supposed to be hard or sportsmanlike, the point is to kill as much of them as quickly as possible. I would recommend you to research the topic on the wild pigs and the damage that they cause.
That **sigh** **pause** “it’s alright” when he went to turn off the magneto key, just to realize they have been off the whole time and miss functioning lmao. I hope this never happens to me, I’m definitely triple checking where my mag key is, along with everything else.
@@kylehill4437The mag key turns on and selects your magnitos. Magnitos control the ignition system of an aircraft sending spark to the engine. We have two just incase one were to fail and you are supposed to check that both are properly functioning during your preflight. It seems this guy failed to do so. Somehow the engine was able to start with them turned off so there was likely an issue with the wiring. But it means this is 100% on the pilot for not following basic safety checks. Cause this would be easily caught on the ground.
@@Bauksrb4all Hard to say without being able to dig into the electronics themselves but perhaps there was a contact stuck closed allowing power to flow to the mags when it shouldn't. Thus the engine is able to be started. After a few minutes of vibration from flight suddenly it becomes unstuck and opens. This cuts the flow of power to the mags and the engine shuts down.
@@hunterbowie8132 Ou. I thought once started, and fuel starts to go in, it doesnt need electricity. Maybe pump that sends fuel to the engine does need it xD
"You're one hell of a fucking pilot." Well said sir. He's likely the reason you are still breathing. His quick reaction and proper response really saved the day! Glad I saw this video.
If you look closely, the pilot actually took off with the magneto key in the "off" position. The engine's ignition system was doomed to fail sometime and the pilot did not do his proper pre-flight checklist
I love how everyone on the copter was calm during the whole deal and even after the crash. These are the guys I want to hang out with when the things go south.
They congratulated the pilot for getting them down alive, but I wonder how they felt once they heard he'd lifted without turning the Mags on, in other words, a crash-landing caused by his evident reckless pre-flight check? 2:02 He goes to switch off the Mags and realises he's balls'd up, hence his sheepish sigh.
That was so controlled till the end where everyone evacuates. Also the handling of the guns, it was never stressful, passengers kept calm all the time and let the pilot work. That situational awareness at all times was astounding. Props to everyone.
Yes the careless handling of loaded weapons sitting in your lap while you crash land. Anyone who needs to shoot a animal while flying above is a coward and should be butt stroked to the head with his own rifle.
@@avantgarde619 Texas A&M(please google this school if you don't know who they are) did a study which determined aerial boar hunting to be the most cost effective, and efficient manner of population control of this nuisance species. A lot of the time these guys end up giving away excess meat to soup kitchens and other local social programs.
Following this accident the NTSB issued a recommendation that Fortunate Son must be played in all helicopters during take off and flight bellow 1000ft AGL. With dispensation from the FAA, All Along the Watchtower or Paint it Black can be played instead, if the helicopter is configured for six passengers or fewer.
@@danielrehn81 they should add house of the rising son and for what it’s worth to the list too. I’m glad to see them taking steps though. That’s important
@@Hspookyy Engine failed. You can see RPM drop (1:23) at the top right gauge when left needle went to zero at the main panel (left is engine RPM in %, right is rotor RPM). Can't say what exactly happened since oil and fuel light went on after the engine fail not before.
@@stehlajz according to someone else in these comments, the pilot had the key turned to the left magneto position instead of both, essentially running the engine at 50% capacity and causing it to fail.
Props (pun intended) to the pilot. Made an error or had a failure that put it in the dirt but managed to recover enough in that half a second or so to autorotate and land without rolling it or going into an uncontrolled decent. Guy had like 5 seconds to make it work and he did a damn fine job, then made sure everyone was safe.
Based on the NTSB report mentioned in the comments, the pilot failed to perform proper pretakeoff checks which resulted in the magneto switch (key) remaining in the off position during the takeoff sequence and initial climb and the right magneto grounding intermittently. This pilot is being praised for his landing in these comments but if he didn’t have the forward airspeed he did, this crash would’ve likely killed or badly injured those on board. This crash is his fault, through snd through. Do your pre checks from a-z and don’t skip a damn corner or things like this happen. Luck with a tad bit of skill is what happened here. Not a “fantastic pilot”.
Pilot did a fantastic job: He quickly assessed that he couldn't clear the road (powerlines are a death sentence), so he made the turn, and I think he briefly considered going for the more open clearing further to the left but he didn't have the altitude for that either, so he picked the best spot he couldn't and flew it in with what little autorotation momentum he had left. Excellent airmanship.
Well he did good after he fucked up. Lol. At least he didn’t kill anyone. 100% his fault tho. Bet he will never take off with the mags in the off poss again EVER!!!!
@Tom Gulbranson not true. I’ve had a r44 on two different occasions not turn off when I turned the key to the off poss. Because the mags were faulty and did not ground. If you know a R44 you can see the that key is not in the “both” position. You can also see when the pilot realizes it. Watch it again. After the auto when he reaches to turn the key to “off” he kinda drops his head an chuckles. That when he knew he fucked up.and the never turns the key because it’s off already
My assumption is a bad P-lead on the mags. NTSB report says this was the 3rd flight of the day so engine was most likely already warm and didn’t require a prime to start back up before this accident. The pilot failed to do a mag check after start up which resulted in the mag switch being set to off position instead of both. With a faulty P-lead the engine with still spark. I guess that with the vibration of the engine caused the lead to get a proper connection and cause the engine to quit since the key was in the off position. One thing that could’ve been done to prevent this is if the pilot followed his checklist after starting and before taking off (at least checking all components that are required to be on before take off. Make sure mixture is fully in, Mags are set to both, Engine and rotor RPM needles are matched, etc) Good landing though. Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. One thing that could’ve been improved is once the engine failed he dropped the collective which is what you want to do in this situation but he pitched forward to try and gain airspeed which made him loose his rotor RPM which is why the Low Rotor horn was buzzing the entire way down. Great job turning left and away from the wires, they are a death sentence. Overall 9/10 on the landing (only one thing could’ve been fixed but at least everyone made it out) 0/10 on the post-startup/pre-takeoff checks, this entire thing could’ve been prevented if that key was caught before takeoff. At that point if they key was in the off position and I was the PIC and seen that with the engine still running that would be pull the mixture and have maintenance come take a look at it and determine and fix what is wrong because the engine shouldn’t be able to run at all with the key set to off or even start in the first place.
@@tristancervantes1855 if you dropped a rifle from tabletop height it would've probably sustained more damage than this rifle. It was basically only shaken a little, nothing that would alter the gun in such a way to randomly shoot
Yup, real hunters. Using a high powered rifle and a helicopter to gun down 4 legged mammals. Some tough southern types right there. Think they got rejected from the military.
@@tristancervantes1855 lol im saying dumb shit. Im a volunteer firefighter and have pulled guns out of multiple houses that have burnt down or are burning down. Most the time the bolt is welded in place from the heat and anything not steel has melted or burned away. But lets say this gun survived, if you are dumb enough to use a firearm after its been in extreme heat like a house fire you deserve a Darwin. Heat stretches and substantially weakens steel, at that point you are far more likely to have the gun randomly explode when firing. If you need to see what happens when a gun explodes while firing watch Kentucky ballistics on youtube. Guns have had negligent discharges from falling but its incredibly rare, and when that happens its going to be right when it hits the ground because an internal component has to break, its not going to happen after its on the ground. It would then be the same odds of it having a negligent discharge as if it never fell. Ive dropped guns from treestands higher than what the helicopter was flying and never had one discharge.
The third indicator to the right on the lower roll is manifold pressure meter, which suddenly increase after the low RPM alarm and finally crossed the red line on the meter. Normally, a huge input change of collective pitch level or extreme high collective level can lead to low RPM, but in this case, the low RPM alarm ring before the increase of manifold pressure, which should be caused by malfunction of engine.
I've been flying helicopters for 42 years, I would like to congratulate the colleague for the excellent and precise maneuver. Perfect job! Congrats!! 👏👏👏👏👏
By any chance have you flown an R44? Could you confirm the mag switch looks to be in the Off position at the beginning of the video? Also at 1:59 during the shutdown he tries to turn the key to off, but it is already seems to be in that position.
at the 2:00 mark, you can see as he went through switch check, he didnt touch the ign/mag switch, I think he realised his extremely careless mistake right there.
If he hadn't lowered the collective that bird would have fell straight down for those that say he didn't. Excellent job considering he had no altitude to work with.
What Robinson does best. First time in a R22 we had a control malfunction and came with in a foot of contacting the tarmac with the main rotor. I was dumb enough to go back for a 2nd lesson.
Good quick thinking pilot. Rotors lost energy fast, especially with the left hand turn. Can only assume twas to avoid powerlines along that stretch of road.
It's not supposed to be. Use the helicopter to scare the pigs into running, then shoot them as they run. As they say, any pig that runs is a feral pig. Any pig that doesn't run is a well disciplined feral pig!
When I went we would hover over trees to flush them out. We actually flew out between the rain bans of a hurricane that was passing through. It was the best time ever. Probably not the smartest time to go up but my pilot was a former Blackhawk pilot so I had a lot of faith in his ability.
Former pilot, in a R22 you have 1.1 seconds to slam the collective down after motor stops to get into full auto, in a R44 you have like 1.8 seconds, this dude nailed it!
@@jcjammer1 when you are learning to fly one of these you do countless EP’s (emergency procedures) with a instructor until it becomes all automated, the instructor will even full fuses or say power failure and then you go into full auto, even have to do 180degree full autos, those are fun!
Watching the rotor RPM you can see that pulled up the collective way too early, practicing low level engine failures is definitely a good idea to avoid issues like this
I like how you can hear how disappointed the camera man is even though he just survived a crash he's thinking. "I just missed a good fucking hunting day"
@@teamtoken They are weird to fly. Very picky compared to most helicopters. They don’t like transitioning from gaining altitude quickly to a straight hover, and doing that aggressively could put your rotor into your tail. If you understand what negative G’s are, then just know that will cause you to fall out of the sky in these heli’s. But, they do require specific training to fly them, even an experience pilot has to go back to school to get certified to fly them. Not just a simple quick type training and a check out flight.
I wonder if the pilot realized his mistake as he was shutting off and securing everything. Seems like he chuckled to himself and said "it's alright" as he was looking at the mags.
Wife: he said he was going to the store to get some ham with his friends, wtf hes been gone for hours, he's probably cheating on me Husband and friends:
Everybody that said he didn’t had enough speed and didn’t flare are just clueless about the situation. He had enough speed and could’ve flare but was going directly to the highway and those electrical wires that you RU-vid specialist didn’t see. He gave up speed to avoid the highway and electrical wires by making that left hand turn. Even if the engine malfunction was caused by the pilot’s mistake, the rest was handled perfectly. Unfortunate mistake, but overall with the given flight parameters, his autorotation skills were perfect. If he didn’t had to dodge that highway, no doubts he would’ve landed 10/10.
Also, his manifold pressure was too high & either overboosting or almost overboosting depending on the temperature that day & his rate of descent was only 500 feet per minute when an autorotation should have been 2,000 feet per minute. So he clearly had too much up collective pulled in & airspeed too low so he basically dropped out of the sky.
Only because their primitive limbic systems are unable to process the event as it’s happening. Same reason their wives stopped talking to them long ago about anything but sports.
Respectfully, that wasn't luck. That's sane helicopter flying. The main thing a safe autorotation requires is kinetic energy. You can convert the potential energy of altitude into that kinetic energy, but at low level airspeed is all you have. I never seen a better pilot.
"As the passengers were getting into the helicopter, a rifle was dropped on the dash of the helicopter which turned the alt switch, master switch, and clutch switch to off. The pilot immediately turned the switches back on and conducted a hover power and final systems check. The helicopter then took off uneventfully." -NTSB Report CEN21LA109 The key is right next to the other three switches that were turned off by the passenger's rifle, so it could have been turned off at the same time. Was the passenger's camera recording then? If you put yourself in the pilot's place, at the time, it's easy to see why he might not have checked the ignition switch position: the engine was still running. Unless you're armchair QBing with 20/20 hindsight, you wouldn't think the ignition was OFF when the engine is running. And why should the pilot be expected to perform the "STARTING ENGINE AND RUN-UP" checklist when NOT STARTING THE ENGINE? There is no checklist in the R44 POH for each takeoff, so it's unreasonable to conclude that "the pilot did not perform all the required pretakeoff checks." Cause 1: passenger dropped a rifle on the dash, turning off a number of switches Cause 2: magneto ground failure, that the NTSB can't even explain Cause ?: (**completely guessing**) operator's emphasis on minimal time on the ground between groups? Cause 3: pilot missed one of the switches that was inadvertently turned off Cause 4: magneto somehow waiting until the climbout to finally ground, causing inflight engine failure After that, the pilot did a fantastic job getting everyone safely to the ground. Not a perfect autorotation, but I'd give it 8/10. The most important part is entering the auto, and that gets a 10/10, which is why everyone survived.
I honestly wonder how he meant it, the controlled emergency landing was impressive with minimal damage, but at the same time could've been derogatory lmao
dude autorotated AND dodged an active roadway when going down. thats some hogwild bush pilot landing stuff right there gol dangit. glad everyone was safe and walked away from crash.
I have 900hrs fixed wing 10 helicopter I even did a autorotation. But HE FLAT OUT FUCKED UP. During preflight missed mag selection made engine failure plus. His auto rotation sucked. At that altitude he had plenty of BLADE SPEED he never flared just hit hard. Watxh this autorotation at 75' yes he has power but in a auto simulation is about the same experience why we do them. I guarantee they will be pissed may lose his job
Stayed above dead mans curve, excellent energy management for being that low and turning to avoid the power lines, all while the low rotor rpm was singing. Heli is damaged....but.... they can hog hunt tomorrow and that what matters!
Welp actually I don't think that bird needs too much maintenance to fly again. Bent skids are normal. Though the whole thing needs an inspection maybe new tail boom. Those expensive blades look fine and the engine should be in perfect condition too. (No clue why the mags turned off during flight)
@@MqKosmos It's absolutely crazy to say "the engine should be in perfect condition" after the engine quit during take off. That's the definition of NOT IN PERFECT CONDITION.
Holy Toledo the tail boom was sliced clean off! That was the infamous Robinson helicopter tail boom strike! I cannot believe this pilot pulled off a landing with NO tail rotor. My God, this is a miracle if there ever was one. The true cause of the crash wasn't evident until the very end of this video clip when the severed tail boom became apparent.
Not so sure. Look at his ignition key position. Then look here: www.heliflieger.com/en/today-neither-round-flights-if-the-magnetic-check-reports-an-error/
@@oscar3611 I see what you are saying! I have replayed the video several times which seems genuine but when he goes to switch off the ignition....... You've cast some doubt in my mind!
I’ve already seen at least 2 different configurations of the magneto key on those panels. The words around the ignition key look different so perhaps this is a different configuration.
@@MrAchilles98 Maybe but the way that he does not turn it off when getting out + that weird smile .... I am curious what the official report says or what consequences will the pilot face :/
So calm he didn’t do a thing. Just sat there. He let his rotor rpm drop (as can be heard with the constant beeping the whole way to the ground). He let his airspeed drop. He never flared. He did everything wrong because he did nothing. He was a passenger just like the rest of them.
Pilot: sorry about that boys. Crewmen: does this mean we are not going hunting today? Copilot: I still have one in the chamber and I’ve already text for another chopper!
Sorry about the ship but great job on the autorotation, sounded like an engine failure. Anytime you and your passengers can walk away uninjured, you did a great job.
Great response to engine failure, however the pilot failed on he's preflight checklist. Magneto switch was in off postion. Very glad all walked away!!!!! Simple things will get ya.
@@LongLiveCrypto I am for helo's and your remark has me wondering if you claim to be.. Because the comment you snarkily replied to, was right.. At the altitude the failure occurred, he had SECONDS to shift his entire action/reaction mode into autorotate, crash prep, find a spot and work the problem... So, don't question someone if you have no clue yourself what you are talking about. That low altitude gave the pilot very LITTLE time at all to choose his options.
I can't believe how gentle the crash was. Seconds before impacting the ground, I thought it was going to be very violent with blades hitting the Earth & shredding apart and a broken cockpit.
@@oddessydied The mag switch had to be ON to take off and fly. It sure does look to be in the 1:30/OFF position but must really have been in the 2:30/R position when the right magneto failed. The real question is, could the pilot have recovered by switching to L or Both magneto positions?
@@jgatkinson744 it’s called auto-rotation. Procedure to follow upon engine failure. You reverse the pitch of the main rotor blades by lowering the collective, using your decent to keep the main rotor RPM up. Then, just before crashing, raise the collective for maximum lift. Ideally, you have forward airspeed to use to your advantage as well. The landing won’t be smooth, and it’s likely crew/passengers will be injured or worse, but when auto-rotation is done by a really good pilot, this video is the kind of result you’re going to see.
@@Ohwelljustshutup I’ll say! This guy did an excellent job! Kept his cool, reverted to his training, went through the procedure, and saved lives! A lot of helicopter pilots lose their cool in situations like these and it’s so deadly. The terrain could have been much worse, but the low altitude and low airspeed were certainly not in his favor. I give him an A! 😂 Glad they’re all okay!
There’s a video of a bride, her brother, and their female photographer in a helicopter crash...the women didn’t make a sound. In other words you’re a sexist asshole. 👍🏼
The sheer chad energy in this entire video is astounding. The way the pilot responded, all the way to how the passengers handled themselves. What an absolute goddamned legend! Personally, if I were in Texas, I'd try grab a ride with this pilot. This sorta thing inspires massive confidence!
Man that pilot made a split second decision that saved this from being a disaster. If he hadn’t of turned they would have gone straight into those power lines
