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  Oct. 28th,  2,ooo

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5o bucks was contributed in October of 2,ooo
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Red Bird Down

A Great Book about flying helicopters in Viet Nam
written by VN Chopper Pilot
Bruce Carlson
Great read for only 16 bucks
Click foto for ordering info

                  Click foto for ordering info.

Helicopter Flight Simulator

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 Anybody know Bill Palmer???

Chris White, Jim Henthorn, Bill and I had breakfast and swapped lots of TINS (no pictures)  over breakfast at the local airport greasy spoon . Great Guy

He lives close by, was Class 67-7, one tour with 128AHC in 67-68

Flew North Atlantic Oil Rigs and presently EMS with Rocky Mountain Helicopters in Westchester County, NY  If in U do know him, please eM me.

A helicopter plunged 50 feet and crashed onto busy Pines Boulevard in Pembroke Pines on Saturday, killing the two people aboard and terrifying dozens of motorists.

The pilot, 46-year-old Barbara McKinley of Pembroke Pines, died en route to a hospital, and a passenger in the helicopter, 50-year-old Brian Auerbach, also of Pembroke Pines, died on impact.

McKinley was an experienced pilot who had flown corporate planes for Burdines, said her fiancé, Ken Michaelis. He said she took Auerbach, a neighbor, up for his first helicopter flight Saturday.

Michaelis said she called right before taking off and told him to stay home because she was going to fly over his home in Southwest Ranches.

Michaelis went outside with his two daughters a little later and waved to McKinley as she circled.

``She buzzed about four or five times, waving at us, and then headed to Miami,'' Michaelis said. ``We were going to get together later in the day.''

Witnesses said the chopper, a Robinson R22 Beta, swayed back and forth minutes before dropping onto Pines Boulevard about noon, narrowly missing motorists.

``I could tell it was in trouble by the way it sounded. It didn't seem like he had any power -- he was definitely having some kind of mechanical problems,'' said David Mayer, who was jogging along Pines Boulevard when the crash occurred.

``I was sitting at the intersection on the phone and heard a helicopter really low,'' said Kristi Krueger, an anchor with WPLG-ABC 10 who lives in Pines. ``I saw it listing from side to side and said to my mom, `Oh, my God, I'm going to get hit! ' then it swerved down south on Pines Boulevard and crashed.''

The red and white two-seater helicopter took off from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport at about 11:30 p.m., said Corky Smith, senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, who was at the scene Saturday. The helicopter is owned by Volar Helicopters at the airport.

Smith said the pilot was a certified instructor and it was a ``routine flight.''

FLYING LOW

Witnesses told Smith the chopper approached Pines Boulevard, flying south at a low altitude. The chopper was swaying back and forth and, at the intersection of Pines Boulevard and Northwest 155th Avenue, yawed to the left and headed east, Smith said. Seconds later, the helicopter dropped from the sky and crashed.

``I saw the helicopter coming and it looked like it was in trouble. It was swerving all over the place and it seemed like the tail flipped,'' said Andy Gonzalez, owner of an Exxon gas station at the intersection. ``He was really flying low and it looked like she was trying to veer to the left and land in the lake but she couldn't make it. It's amazing no one was killed and that she missed the traffic lights.''

The chopper hit the road with a resounding boom, sending pieces of the tail across several lanes. Some were found up to 50 feet away.

The windshield shattered and the blades of the rotor were bent and twisted underneath the mangled frame. Fuel began leaking across the highway.

According to the R22 Pilot and Owners Association, the Robinson R22 is one of the most popular training helicopters in the world. In 1995, the NTSB recommended that R22s be grounded because of 26 fatal accidents in which the main rotor hit the airframe during flight. Those were the total fatal accidents involving the R22 since its inception in 1979.

As a result of the NTSB recommendations, the Federal Aviation Administration issued revised airworthiness directives for the R22. Those directives are the operating procedures required by the FAA. Among other things, the FAA required R22 pilots to avoid high and low air speeds and maintain maximum power on RPM.

`STEEP DESCENT'

``It had to have been a steep descent because it went under the traffic lines,'' said Armando Orraca, a commercial pilot who lives in the Towngate subdivision on the north side of Pines Boulevard. ``It's amazing it didn't burst into flames, really amazing.''

Cars headed east minutes after the wreck swerved off the road to avoid hitting the debris. Passersby jumped from their vehicles and ran to try to help the two people strapped inside.

Auerbach was dead. The pilot, McKinley, was moving and breathing, witnesses said. They unstrapped her, pulled her out and Mayer began administering CPR until medics arrived. She was rushed to Memorial Hospital West but was pronounced dead on arrival.

``It flew over my head at about 50 feet and then crashed,'' said Mayer, a lieutenant colonel with the Southern Command in Miami. ``I ran over there and both passengers were still strapped inside.''

The westbound lanes of Pines Boulevard from Interstate 75 to Northwest 155th Avenue were closed for more than four hours while NTSB investigators inspected the wreckage and questioned witnesses. At about 5 p.m., the aircraft was hauled away and the road opened.

``All of us who work around here call this intersection the `intersection of death,' '' Gonzalez said. ``There's always wrecks at this corner and someone dying. We've never had a helicopter crash before, though.''

I read this news on sunday miami herald..

I have owned one Rotorway Exec and two Enstroms since becoming a helicopter pilot in 1987. Currently I am without a ship. I am seriously considering the purchase of a Baby Bell, but I am cautious about the safety records of  homebuilt

I have researched the NTSB site on the BB and have only found one related  accident for this ship in the past 25 years and that accident appeared to be pilot related.

Any news or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Daniel Cole

hello;thank you for your web site!

I'am building an helicopter (in France);I saw on your web site a turbine powered exec ( t-62),I have a question that disturb me;do you know or can you tell me more about the transmition of this helo,it's look like a rear car transmition.I would be happy(excuse my poor english) if you can give informations about this.

Thank you. François Guillaumot

your web site is fantastic for any helicopters addict!(like me)
France is very poor in helo builders...............so bad.

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October 3rd, 2,ooo

Just saw on the news that the University of Alabama's Mini 500 crashed killing the prof.  I'm
leaving on a business trip, and can't find more details.  Check the
Tuscaloosa, AL news for details.

Greg Graham
 
 

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A University of Alabama engineering professor died this morning in the crash of an experimental helicopter at the Tuscaloosa Airport.

     Tuscaloosa police say Amnon Katz died when the helicopter known as Mini 500 crashed at about 9 a-m. The dean of the engineering school at the university, Tim Green, says the small helicopter had passed Federal Aviation Administration inspections and was owned by the university.

    Green says Katz was the only person licensed to fly the experimental helicopter. Katz was a professor of aerospace engineering.

     FAA investigators are on the scene in Tuscaloosa this afternoon. Cause of the crash has not been determined.

I am building a 'modified' AW-95.  Since I am over 300 lbs I have decided to use the AW-95 design except bigger. Not much bigger in dimensions but rather bigger in horsepower and a stronger structure. I expect to use a 4 cyl 1800cc subaru engine with turbocharger at about 90 hp. Or 2 engines if need be, ha.

I am also considering adding some skin and canopy in the form of a huey cobra, but underneath it will still be an AW-95 of sorts.

David Elm    davidelm@mediaone.net
Raymond,  NH USA

Until than, please realize, I already contribute 10/20 hours a week hosting/editing SHnPGIE n I personally feel it only fair that the people that enjoy n profit from this site should also contribute something to help pay SHnPGIE's out of pocket expenses. So, needing cash for SHnPGIE  I  started selling a few things to help supplement SHnPGIE's contributions.

So, if  you're purchasing a book from Amazon, now or in the future, by clicking thru SHnPGIE, we will get a small (about $0.50) commission. Or if you use telephone cards, by purchasing from SHnPGIE, you will save a buck n SHnPGIE will make a buck since (we sell them for a dollar less than at your local convenience store). So if you have the need for one of the two for mentioned items, please click on the icon above.

It all adds up n will help maintain n perhaps allow me to cover additional helicoptering events, thus giving YOU more good stuff on helicopters to read n quality fotos to dream on n help SHnPGIE be on the WWWeb one more year.

It's all up to you, the reader  if  SHnPGIE is on the WWWeb after September 1999.
Right now I feel like the beggars we C on the PBS TV channels from time to time, they are annoying aren't they, sorry.

THANK YOU

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A Few
Good Helicopter n Aviation
...Related Books...
You may like to read
.

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Chicken Hawk is a story of a young boy that goes thru US Army  Warrant Officer Flight School becoming both a helicopter pilot and a man. The story starts in the late 60 in the USA, than onto VietNamand back. The author Bob Mason tells how he almost washed out of pre flight school but was allowed to take the "Hell Month" over again (6o days of Hell Month) and  almost a year later earned his wing as a Warrant Officer. He tells how he and many other set up one of the first Air Cavalry Divisions (perhaps the first, I can't remember). Any way, I  enjoyed Bob's book so much I have actually read 3 times so far and most likely will again. It is a great book for any one fascinated with the whirling wing/helicopter and or VietNam helicopter aviation. If you are forgetful like me, you can enjoy it 3 times for only $8.76 thru Amazon.com. Click here to order Chicken Hawk..........

Almost every one knows Chuck Yeager was the first human to break the sound barrier. But the story that leads up to him being in the right place at the right time and having "the Right Stuff" is equally as interesting as his mach 1 story. If I remember correctly (I read this one a few years back n only once) this book also starts out when Chuck was a young man on a farm, following him thru Army flight school, a W.W.II P51 pilot in Europe and back to Murrock/Eedwards AF Base, retiring a Air Force Brig. General....... Great human aviation story, great W.W.II story and great aviation history story all rapped up in one book for just 6 bucks thru Amazon.com. Click here to order eager......

.
You may have seen the movie or perhaps the segment on 6o minuets or 2o/2o type TV show recently. What a story that starts with a grope of young soccer players on a twin engine turbo prop plane flying thru the Andes in Chili South America and does not make it. I do not want to give it a way, but is is a great story and just keeps on coming and coming as you turn the page. Once again, I read this one a few years ago and with my memory, I will take it with me on my next long airline flight and read/enjoy it all over. Alive is also a bargain at $5.59 thru Amazon.com. Click here to order here to order Alive..........