Helicopter crashes into crane in London.

Originally Posted by Sirius

The news are not interested in that, it does not draw people to watch they rubbish

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...ot-pete-barnes

Pete Barnes, who died when the helicopter he was flying hit a crane on a high building and crashed on to a street in Vauxhall, had amassed more than 12,000 hours of flying time, including 3,500 hours on the type of aircraft he had been piloting when he crashed.
He was described as one of the country's most experienced commercial helicopter pilots. In a wide-ranging UK career spanning 18 years, he had done everything from fly air ambulances to working as a pilot on ads, TV programmes and films including the James Bond movie Die Another Day, Saving Private Ryan and Tomb Raider II.
In 2004, he helped rescue a motorist from a flooded ford in County Durham while working for the Great North Air Ambulance. He also flew the Newcastle Traffic & Travel helicopter as the Voice of Metro FM and worked as a helicopter instructor.

[Hom3r]

IMHO I believe the pilot had seconds to decide were to crash, and aimed for the road.

Originally Posted by Hom3r

IMHO I believe the pilot had seconds to decide were to crash, and aimed for the road.

IMHO some numpty left the crane boom hanging over the river .It will be interesting to see what the H&S and crash investigators come up with because there will be strict protocols in place for that crane and how to park it ,and i bet parking the boom over the river was a no no

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

IMHO I believe the pilot had seconds to decide were to crash, and aimed for the road.

I doubt it, the blades (needed to steer a helicopter) reportedly came off in the crane collision, after that it was all down to gravity and momentum.

It's strange how this happened, the crane had been NOTAM'd (on the air traffic warnings as 770') for a reasonable length of time so that it would appear on any navigation update (pilots should update daily) also standard approach is at 1400'-1500' so given his experience and that he'd been flying for this company for many years including G-CRST I'm likely to assume that a possible instrument or other failure may have contributed along with the fog.

Either way it is a tragic accident