# Helicopter crash in Seattle **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 18, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002 "2014-03-18T15:05:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/21 "2014-03-18T22:36:55Z")
Just to be perfectly correct, the helicopter landed partially in the street and mostly in the parking lot across the street. It was not even close to the McDonalds. I walked near the scene on my way to work today. I work a couple blocks away. At the time I was there, the area was already cordoned off, so that I couldn’t tell what the emergency was until someone told me when I got to the office. ETA: The street across which it crashed was 4th Ave, if you’re looking at the aerial photo. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/22 "2014-03-19T00:16:57Z")
The news here reports that it crashed on takeoff, crashing on top of a couple of cars. Incredibly, someone in one of the cars walked out of the fire and was taken to the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/23 "2014-03-19T01:16:42Z")
I wonder if this will cause, either nationally or locally, changes in how news journalists use helicopters. The story the doomed chopper was returning from was about a busted water main in a suburban strip mall, not exactly worth the expense or risk a helicopter can pose in a highly built up area. Is it really worth being fifteen minutes ahead of other stations on routine news stories? A question about the NTSB investigation. News reports early on said the “local NTSB”, not the national one, was being sent to the scene. What is the difference, or were reports incorrect? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/24 "2014-03-19T01:44:15Z")
NTSB has a Seattle office, so my guess is they are coming from local office rather than DC. National Transportation Safety Board N T S B,Government Of The United States 19518 Pcf Highway S # 201 Seattle, WA 98188 (206) 870-2200 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/25 "2014-03-19T03:24:31Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > I wonder if this will cause, either nationally or locally, changes in how news journalists use helicopters. The story the doomed chopper was returning from was about a busted water main in a suburban strip mall, not exactly worth the expense or risk a helicopter can pose in a highly built up area. Is it really worth being fifteen minutes ahead of other stations on routine news stories? Helicopters are expensive. It usually makes more sense to use them, than to have them sitting and waiting for something ‘worthy’. > [@Chefguy](#): > > The news here reports that it crashed on takeoff, crashing on top of a couple of cars. Incredibly, someone in one of the cars walked out of the fire and was taken to the hospital. Reports I’ve been hearing sound more and more like a tail rotor failure. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/26 "2014-03-19T04:59:09Z")
Imagine if this had happened during tourist season with more traffic and pedestrians. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/27 "2014-03-19T07:39:25Z")
So I click “new maps”, put up with a made-for-a-dumb-10-yr-old tour, and still don’t get the copter - just a "you’re using the “Lite Version!”, sign-in… I know better than to trust anybody who says “sign in” to get the good stuff. And I don’t send “money transfer costs” to Nigeria, either ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/28 "2014-03-21T15:15:42Z")
If I heard the news correctly this morning, investigators do not believe the tail rotor struck the building. They’re looking into it anyway. Also, they have video surveillance footage of the crash. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/29 "2014-03-22T15:29:20Z")
[CSM article](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0322/Seattle-helicopter-crash-Was-broken-tail-rotor-the-cause) > [@](#): > > Video shows that a news helicopter that went down in Seattle and killed two people this week began rotating at takeoff before it pitched forward in a fiery crash, the National Transportation Safety Board says. > > The surveillance footage taken from three security camera recordings near the crash site shows the aircraft began rotating counterclockwise during takeoff Tuesday morning and rose slightly, nearly level, from a rooftop helipad, the agency said late Friday night in a preliminary report. In the helicopters I’ve flown, the main rotor turns counterclockwise so torque makes the fuselage want to turn clockwise; so you add left pedal when the power is on. The accident helicopter was French. French and Russian helicopter rotors turn the other way, uncompensated-for torque would make them rotate counterclockwise. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/30 "2014-03-22T15:53:12Z")
So… translated into non-rotorhead words, that means you suspect a tail rotor failure? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/31 "2014-03-22T16:10:07Z")
That was my initial guess (that, or a tail strike – which is an induced tail rotor failure), and what the NTSB indicates in its preliminary report. ---
**Author:** ![UTejas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UTejas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UTejas)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/32 "2014-03-22T16:29:01Z")
It sounds like he suspects the opposite of failure. It was a replacement helicopter after their regular one was in for repairs. If you’re used to pressing the left pedal to add torque, a reversed helicopter is going to require you to go against your instincts. The pilot might have been pressing on the wrong pedal or been unprepared to stomp on the right pedal. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002/33 "2014-03-22T16:45:11Z")
I thought of that. I was wondering how many hours the pilot had in an A-Star, and how recent they were compared to the LongRanger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helicopter-crash-in-seattle/684002.md?page=1)