what would scooby do

I bet he owned an iPhone as well..

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Helicopters were invented to keep the number of Rich People down, they have good medical care, good food and are generally protected so a machine was invented that really shouldnt fly, its a fan with somwhere to sit FFS, so a rich bloke gets one and gets a bit careless or silly and it kills them, it doesnt mess about, they dont glide too well and seem hopelessly attracted to power lines and hillsides, leave the Copters to the pros and dont give them to Rally drivers, you need to be a bit **** retentive and a stickler for detail to get away with Helicopters, a slightly unhinged bloke who hurtles through forests on the ragged edge taking massive risks (that frequently didn't pay off) is not the best candidate to take to the skies in something so complicated and fussy, the margin of error was probably similar to a Rally Car but despite his best efforts Mr McRae never flew a car more than 15/20 ft up or for say 50 ft total distance, a height at which no object will return to terminal velocity, also they are designed to take into account a sub-optimal landing, 5 point harnesses, huge roll cage, suspension and wheels etc where a Helicopter just makes a large crater and a lengthy report that basically says you were dicking about.

I am not criticising him as being honest, given a Helicopter to play with, after the initial promises to not dick about, dilligently learning for and passing the exams I would soon be confidently be dicking about, I am not great at paperwork so would probably also forget the license stuff and I would probably show off a bit and crash it. I wouldnt have bought one of the stupid contraptions in the first place though, I think they are great but only for the pros, not just those with enough money to buy one.

bish667

iTrader: (1)

This may be a totally stupid question as i don't have kids but what does it matter that the kid didnt have permission from his parents to go in the helicopter with him or not? Are they saying that if the kid wanted to do ANYTHING with mcrae that the kid had to go ask his parents first, what was the kid doing there that he wasnt allowed to go in the helicopter.

Is it just a safety thing to make sure his parents were ok with it as helicopter trips arent everyday things and can be dangerous?

TelBoy

It's a side-show irrelevance, only being aired because it's all got litigious. If the helicopter trip had ended ok, his parents might have been surprised, but certainly wouldn't have hounded McRae for doing something with their kid without prior consent.

But then that's what lawyers are paid to do - screw everybody for as much as possible.

Leslie

Very irresponsibl;e behaviour. Not properly licensed for that helicopter for a start, and then taking those two lads as well as another bloke on an illegal low level flying trip when he had not been trained in the special skills required for flying at low level.

Down to him of course that he killed himself but unforgiveable that the lads and the bloke were also killed purely for the sake of showing off when he did not have the skill or capability to carry it out safely.

Les

Devildog

Seriously, do you not understand the English language?

Servo transparency is, however, a possible explanation for the strange deviation from the flight path taken in the final seconds when the helicopter flew at right angles to the valley.

"possible explanation" does not equate to "most likely reason"

Spoon

Giving McRae a helicopter was like giving someone with Parkinson's a loaded gun. Sooner or later is was going to end in tragedy.

markjmd

iTrader: (11)

The loss of life is of course an absolute tragedy, but it's in a way also morbidly fascinating to see how the tiny ancient primitive core of the brain is sometimes powerful enough to override the much bigger modern analytical part of it. Deep down McRae must have known the consequences of an off in a chopper would be massively more serious than the same in a rally car, yet he still wasn't able to translate that knowledge into conscious thoughts to make himself fly more carefully.

RA Dunk

WTF kind of bullsh1t comment is this supposed to be, You make it sound as if he was utterly incompetant?

Spoon

He was on the day so take your bullshít remark and insert it as far up your arsé as you can.

RA Dunk

Another 'mong' gets his tuppence worth in.

**** off Spaz!

Spoon

Awww bless, we have a blinkered poster of low intelligence only able to type insults at those talking factually, and when he gets response in the same vein he can't think of an original response.

53

iTrader: (41)

This thread is Mong'u'mental

Let's all demonise a great man for the sake of having an opinion..

Mongtastic

what would scooby do

I see celebrity worship syndrome is affecting people still...

Spoon

Only those that bear a canny resemblance to this man.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

As a parent of a five year old boy I would be a little bit surprised if he came home saying he had been for a helicopter ride. I would certainly ask the pilot to ensure that we knew beforehand. How knowing would prevent this is obviously questionable - but as a parent of young kids you would want to know.

Also as parent I am certain that Colin died knowing that his son was going to die to - whether or not he was responsible. An awful thought indeed.

Wish

iTrader: (2)

Apparently the onboard footage has found it's way on to you tube.
Not that is something I really want to find / watch

stara

Understand it fine pal, and out of all the possible reasons given in the report, I still think in my opinion that jack stall was the most likely cause for the strange deviation out of the other possible causes given.

RA Dunk

What makes you so educated or experianced to come up with a conclusion like that then? Are you a chopper pilot or do you work with choppers?

stara

Yes.

Bubba po

A great man? He was a bleeding car driver not Nelson Mandela, you silly man. Get a sense of proportion!

RA Dunk

Yes to what a pilot or yes you work with them?

Spoon

53

iTrader: (41)

FFS I thought we'd established he was the Kipper fillets magnet ?

Or do I need to find an alternative mong'er

Bubba po

Oh, yeah, sorry.

Anyway, this isn't an argument.

Jamz3k

Just goes to show you how **** the compass on them actually is!

DJ_Jon

iTrader: (7)

Letting his license expire as well as his type rating was either a genuine mistake or a gross error. I'm going to go with the latter. Before I take control of an aircraft I always check that I am legal - my license is valid, along with my type rating & medical. On top of that I check my logbook for my last flight - Airlaw clearly states that I must have performed 3 take off's & landings as pilot in command within the last 90 days in order to carry passengers.

Further to this I cannot hire an aircraft from my local school unless I have flown within the last 28 days.

Regardless of how the accident happened, he should not have been at the controls.

I still think he was a great rally driver & came across well, but he had poor judgement & displayed poor airmanship in this, tragic, case.

tbtstt

When you say that you think jack stall was "the most likely cause for the strange deviation out of the other possible causes given" you are implying (to me) that jack stall can occur at any point in the flight and thats what caused the crash.

Jack stall is a condition that occurs as a consequence of pilot input; it doesn't just crop up at random. The aircraft must be flown at speed and in an aggressive fashion in order to meet the criteria for jack stall to occur; it doesn't just suddenly kick in when the aircraft is flying straight and level.

Based on what we do know about the crash - or rather the way the aircraft was being flown just prior to the crash (specifically the comments made with regards to the onboard video and the eyewitness reports) - it does seem that McRae was flying his aircraft with many of the conditions present for servo transparancy to occur: i.e. high speed and engaging in high-G maneuvers (and at low level).

Jack stall is a recoverable condition if the pilot is aware of the onset of the condition and has sufficient space (i.e. altitude) to correct it.

TelBoy

I think you're alone with that perceived implication. I don't think he implies that in the slightest. But your explanations of its occurance etc are interesting nevertheless.

tbtstt

In that case I apologise if I've misread his comments.