News Helicopter hits crane in London

Vae

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Our MD lives in the next building to this so he got rather delayed driving to work this morning.
 

Poag

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Our MD lives in the next building to this so he got rather delayed driving to work this morning.
I'm sure the business stopped functioning immediately due to his absence. Bands of beancounters roamed the halls hunting down interns to kill for food.

IT tech barricaded themselves in server rooms using the HALON cannisters to keep the BeanCounters at bay. Security formed a tribe in the foyer devoted to the great TV god. The cleaning staff began a cult focused on domestos.....

No? Everything was fine?

Wel....thats wizard...



Still sad someone died :(
 

Vae

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I'm sure the business stopped functioning immediately due to his absence. Bands of beancounters roamed the halls hunting down interns to kill for food.

IT tech barricaded themselves in server rooms using the HALON cannisters to keep the BeanCounters at bay. Security formed a tribe in the foyer devoted to the great TV god. The cleaning staff began a cult focused on domestos.....

No? Everything was fine?

Wel....thats wizard...



Still sad someone died :(

Nope just meant that my meeting with him got delayed although I like the idea of roaming the halls hunting for interns. They're always young and pretty so it appeals :)
 

Vae

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Not to diminish from the loss of life, RIP and all, but FH rules go over this;



POIDH.
Sorry not going to happen. All I'll say it my firm is jewellery and therefore about 80% female with most of them in their 20's.
 

Lamp

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There's been all sorts of speculation about what happened. The pilot had been flying for 25+ years, mega experienced, I doubt he fucked up. Mmechanical error with the chopper ? The light wasn't working on top of the crane? Could be a fuck-up at Air Traffic Control. Someone on the BBC said choppers aren't fitted with radar. Why not? Shouldn't all cloud-level structures be fitted with a pinger (in addition to red lights) so that some advanced warning can be picked up by instrumentation?
 

rynnor

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The guy was en-route to Elstree but couldnt land there so was told to divert to Battersea. The crane had been repeatedly reported as not displaying a light on top - eyewitnesses said that the top of the building including the crane were within the low cloud that was present this morning - it was also still a little dark.
 

adams901

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the news said the light wasnt on, it wasnt required to be on as rules state it only needs to be on at night, and doesnt need to be on for poor visibilty. If you ask me this is a rule that needs amending.
 

rynnor

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Mmechanical error with the chopper ?

After the collision certainly - he chopped the tail including the essential tail rotor off and the thing spun out of control - no one could have controlled that.

I think it will lead to greater restrictions on helicopter flights over london - its a tragedy but the reality is it could have easily have been far worse than it ended up.
 

Wazzerphuk

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The guy was en-route to Elstree but couldnt land there so was told to divert to Battersea. The crane had been repeatedly reported as not displaying a light on top - eyewitnesses said that the top of the building including the crane were within the low cloud that was present this morning - it was also still a little dark.

Yeah I passed it on the way in in the morning and the top of the building and crane were completely hidden from view. Tried to see the crane damage but couldn't.
 

Lamp

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I hope they don't over-react. They don't need to restrict air traffic, or get rid of the Heliport, etc. They need to ensure every tall structure has both a working light and a pinger that can be picked up well in advanced by instrumentation, and make it a condition of carriage that every chopper is fitted with radar or something specifically designed to listen for these tall structure pings. They probably need to tighten up training / operating procedures at Air Traffic too.
 

rynnor

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I hope they don't over-react. They don't need to restrict air traffic, or get rid of the Heliport, etc. They need to ensure every tall structure has both a working light and a pinger that can be picked up well in advanced by instrumentation, and make it a condition of carriage that every chopper is fitted with radar or something specifically designed to listen for these tall structure pings. They probably need to tighten up training / operating procedures at Air Traffic too.

Londons full of tall structures now - helicopters should not be overflying london in low cloud.
 

rynnor

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Oh and incidentally the Police helicopter was grounded today - due to the weather...
 

sayward

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Shame about the pilot but rough for the passer by. Pretty random death.
 

Scouse

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They don't need to restrict air traffic

I heard that you're not supposed to be within 500 feet of the top of the nearest building.

Was the crane 500ft+ higher than the building it was at?
 

Poag

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I heard that you're not supposed to be within 500 feet of the top of the nearest building.

Was the crane 500ft+ higher than the building it was at?

No
_65316897_s1q4mbl8.jpg
 

rynnor

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User error then...

Sort of but Air traffic control may be implicated a bit too - they re-directed him to the Battersea helipad which was not on his flight plan - did they then warn him of this crane because if he had been heading there in his original flight plan they would have warned him about it.
 

sayward

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Two crane drivers reckon they missed death because they overslept but surely if they'd been there the crane might've been in a different position etc. etc. etc.
 

Poag

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Also the cab appears to be undamaged in most pictures.....
 

caLLous

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That's what I thought. If you were the crane driver, you would *probably* have come away completely unscathed, it's the boom above the cab that was hanging down.
 

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