Eurotrash

This fascinating photo was sent by a fellow T210 pilot:

120704-wreckage.jpg


The pilot of this (now totaled) helicopter was trying to taxi past a maintenance hangar when his rotors cut into the hangar doors. This shredded the doors, rolled the aircraft over, and blew shrapnel through the hangar into several aircraft parked inside, including a jet.

It wasn’t a small whirlybird, either. It was a 9 month-old Eurocopter AS-365 Dauphin worth more than $4 million. Lord only knows what the cost will be to repair the hangar and other damaged aircraft.

Moral of the story: most accidents happen on the ground, not in the air. In fact, I believe the worst aviation accident in history was a ground mishap (I intentionally exclude 9/11 because that wasn’t an accident). Two 747s collided on the ground at Tenerife Island in 1977, killing 583 people.

  2 comments for “Eurotrash

  1. Ron
    January 7, 2004 at 5:03 pm

    Yeah, that’s the kind of mistake you only make ONCE.

  2. Lesley
    January 7, 2004 at 3:50 pm

    Not to mention all the people that walk into propeller blades. Yikes!

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