Jump to content

Helicopter crashes into Clutha pub, Glasgow


The Master

Recommended Posts

But according to what I read (on the beeb) it still had fuel, but both switched were turned off. That can't have happened except by human action, surely?

And yes, I have no knowledge of helicopter operation at all, in case I'm being spectacularly dense.

They showed a diagram on the news earlier, it has one main tank and two smaller tanks which then feed the engines. The switches that were off were for the two pumps which transfers fuel from the main tank to the two feeder tanks, but they did say it's not unusual for those switches to be turned on and off during flight. The main tank still had plenty of fuel in it but the two others were almost empty. A warning would sound when the tanks were getting low and the switches should have been flicked back on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I, along with most people know next to nothing about car engines but when i hear a passing car that has something wrong with it then along with most people i kind of know there is something wrong. When i heard the helibobter above me that night as i stood at my backdoor then straightaway i told her indoors that i thought there was something wrong with it. I joked with the missus next day that it would be strange if it was the same one that had crashed. It wasnt until months later that it turned out that it was the same one.

Guess i just have to take the word of the experts that it ran out of fuel and no other cause.

I don't think you have anything to worry about with regards to it being what you heard since it was a helicopter that crashed and not what you thought.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did the helicopter crash because the pilot failed to make a mayday call then?

It crashed because the pilot failed to react to the low fuel warnings by either landing the helicopter or by turning on the fuel pump switches.

Schoolboy error IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...
  • 6 months later...
2 hours ago, Busta Nut said:

I don't really know anything about this but I can't help but think they are just blaming the dead guy cos they can.

There's probably something the pilot could have done in retrospect in nearly every accident to make things better, which the manufacturers always concentrate on to avoid blame. Haven't read the report and probably wouldn't understand it if I did, but I bet there's a lot more in it than pilot error. Journalists just look for a simple headline, no doubt assisted by PR releases from Airbus Helicopters to avoid reading the whole thing. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...