The Blame Game
First published circa 2016
New Zealand has 300 Robinson Helicopters on the register.
The USA has 2700 Robinson Helicopters registered.
Since 2010 New Zealand has experienced nine [9] accidents in Robinson’s.
Since 2010 the USA has experienced nine [9] accidents in Robinson Helicopters.
Any 10 year old can compute that NZ has an accident rate nine times GREATER that of the USA for nine times LESS aircraft flying.
Defensively we are quick to perpetuate the myth that New Zealand is windy, mountainous and it takes a special type of aviator and aircraft to navigate this harsh and unrelenting landscape. Poppycock. Canada and the USA are significantly more mountainous, South America is windy and nothing topographically in New Zealand presents as anything more unique than anywhere else. Dozens of New Zealand pilots flying in places like Antarctica, Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea can testify to that.
What is unique to our industry, is an accident rate per capita that leads the OECD. We are destroying Helicopters and killing people at a rate grossly excessive to the size of our industry and the number of aircraft here.
Over the last two years media in New Zealand (and Australia) have definitively blamed the Robinson R22, R44 and R66 Helicopter.
The statistics show that Robinson Helicopters comprise 33% of the entire fleet but experience 46% of the fatal accidents with the majority being in the R22.
But before you herd along with the other sheep, follow me down this rabbit hole a little deeper.
Of the remaining 67% of helicopters, 10% are defined as “other” types that don’t fly often. The residual 57% belongs to the Eurocopter/AIRBUS AS350/Bell 206/MD500 and S300 which together (ironically) account for an additional 46% of the fatal accidents in that same period.
Summary; equally as many lives have been lost flying in the same mountainous, windy conditions in Medium, Intermediate and Light Helicopters of other manufacturers - as those lost flying the Robinson Brand.
Did the size, weight or rotor designs impact the likelihood of those helicopters having accidents? Apparently not since no two designs are the same.
Like many hundreds of pilots, I have flown about 1000 hours in all variants of Robinson Helicopters. I’ve added 7 times those hours in 17 different models of other manufacturers aircraft. The Robinson Helicopter is a simple helicopter but it is a simple machine with complex outcomes for poor command decisions.
Failing to follow the Flight Manual, exceeding Limitations, poor command decisions or poor piloting in a Robinson might cause MR Blade Stall and possibly Mast Bumping.
Failing to follow the flight manual, exceeding limitations, poor command decisions or poor piloting in a Bell, AIRBUS, Sikorsky, MD, MBB or Schweizer might cause MR Blade Stall and possibly Mast Bumping.
So why does this happen in New Zealand more than anywhere else?
The NZ Helicopter Association statistics evidently undermine the media attack on the Robinson Brand. The media are ignorant to the true cause of these tragic episodes. Helicopters are like guns. If they sit in the hangar then nobody gets hurt but apply them in a cavalier or disrespectful manner and lives are lost.
Bob Muse of the Robinson Helicopter Flight Safety Department conducted four meetings around New Zealand this June with over 200 pilots and engineers attending. Like everyone, Robinson alumni are alarmed at the carnage here and Bob Muse is the auditor tasked to figure out the problem.
He was in Brazil investigating the accident in the link above and gave us a detailed report on the cause. As you witnessed, the pilot flew into cloud (Instrument Flight Conditions: IFR). He was not trained nor was the helicopter equipped to support IFR conditions. For the non-aviator it looks innocuous but for us who operate helicopters for a living it sickens the stomach with a feeling of dread. It makes me afraid. That pilot became so crossed up that he caused the MR Stall and the subsequent in-flight break up.
Without the extensive on-board footage the media would levy blame against the Robinson helicopter. That same scenario in Brazil has happened in New Zealand numerous times in a variety of helicopters.
The weight of evidence indicts the New Zealand Pilot and Operator. I am one of many and it is my attitude and my culture and my training and my experience and my industry that is deficient.
It is all of us playing the blame game.