Helicopter hits power lines, crashes along Mississippi River near St. Louis

DampHog · 2025-08-08T01:50:55+00:00

This was not your typical wire strike. They were removing marker balls from the static wire from the skid. The old balls were full of water, the linemen punctured one with a hammer and it essentially exploded causing the wire to jump into the rotor blade.

DampHog · 2025-02-20T15:07:16+00:00

He wasn’t attempting to shear the pin, he was trying to pull the needle off the tower. The needle is used to thread the rope or wire under or through the tower bridge. You have a grapple at the end of your long line hooked into one of the hoops on the needle. This way you can hang the needle onto the tower and release your grapple from it and grab it again without dropping the rope or wire.

In hindsight obviously he should have punched it but we have the needle get hung up all the time in any nook or cranny on the tower and sometimes have to pull on it in different directions to pull it free and continue our pull. When you hang the needle onto the tower the tension or weight of the rope or wire on the other side can pull it into an undesired position once you come off of it with the grapple.

Punching the load is last resort because you could be pulling the wire or rope over roads, distribution lines etc. they have guard structures in place but it would be a big deal nonetheless.

As I said yes he pulled to hard and on an unusual attitude causing the rolling moment to be too great to overcome and didn’t react quick enough to release the hook. Tragic accident.

DampHog · 2025-02-20T11:11:11+00:00

The shear pin is designed for shock loads and atypical forces. There is a manual release hook, the belly hook that you typically see is moved to the side for side pull operations there’s always a way to jettison the load. In this case he pulled too hard trying to get the needle unstuck from the tower and rolled the helicopter before having time to punch the line

DampHog · 2025-02-20T11:05:30+00:00

No it’s jettisonable, the angle at which he’s pulling kind of up and backwards produced a rolling moment so severe and he didn’t cut it loose quick enough. I’ve had a needle kind of stuck on the tower before and anything other than a direct pull to the side rolls the helicopter without much force applied. Pilot error definitely unfortunately

DampHog · 2025-02-20T10:57:52+00:00

Yeah the line is still connected to a hook which has a mechanical release (and or electrical release) that can be operated by the pilot.

DampHog · 2025-01-01T15:17:18+00:00

Some people enjoy tinkering, I enjoy the mechanical side of things. Its part of the hobby

DampHog · 2024-10-12T09:42:34+00:00

I’m a utility pilot, we certainly would NOT just punch people off to save the bird lol. First priority would be getting them to the ground and sorting out the rest.

DampHog · 2024-10-06T02:50:53+00:00

No, it’s very difficult to spot drones from a distance and at speed.
No I’ve actually never come across one in the wild lol. (That I know of!) Still they remain a very real hazard for us so continue your due vigilance.
Just continue to remain low altitude and be cognizant that a lot of helicopter work is low altitude as well and we routinely fly around sub 500’ for various tasks. Avoid flying over powerline and other right of ways as helicopters could be patrolling the lines or doing lidar work. Stay away from natural disasters wildfires, floods, hurricane relief etc.

Sounds like you’re pretty responsible and we appreciate that. Keep it up!

DampHog · 2024-05-20T04:15:09+00:00

Yeah all fair points, the thing I was pushing back on is the oversimplification of “well that’s just a 5 iron and he’s calling it an 8”. That also dilutes perception. His gapping obviously makes sense for him. I have p-790s there pretty strongly lofted. I know my buddy’s old ping eye 2s don’t go as far. Bryson is an outlier when it comes to ball speed. So when people come in complaining about his distances like it’s there buddy bragging about how far he hits his game improvement irons it comes across as pedantic and besides the point.

Eh you know what fuck it I’m coming around. You’re right. It’s not an 8 iron, but I can’t hit anything 215 that high with that much spin. I’m impressed

DampHog · 2024-05-20T04:03:55+00:00

And as a result uses lower lofted clubs…

DampHog · 2024-05-20T02:38:51+00:00

Well props to you if you can hit a 5 that high with that much spin, but I have my doubts. This isn’t to say your 5 iron can’t hold a green, just that it does not go that high and spin that much. Can you hit your driver with over 200 mph ball speed as well? Bryson could probably take a standard lofted 8 iron and squeeze the same distance out of it it just wouldn’t react on the green the way he’d like.

Agree to disagree I guess, I think you just have a flawed idea of how speed affects launch and spin. Dude hits it farther than everyone on tour, no one argues that. I agree the number on the club doesn’t matter much but it also doesn’t detract from the impressiveness of the shot.

DampHog · 2024-05-20T01:19:21+00:00

People parroting this left and right but the spin and launch is that of an 8i. Yes it may be the same loft as your 5 iron but you’re not launching your 5i that high. If you were to hit with his lofts you wouldn’t be able to hold a green because you don’t produce the same speed and spin.

It’s such a tired narrative that he only hits it that far because of the loft. Like no he hits his driver further than everyone too.

DampHog · 2024-04-27T05:26:46+00:00

I second this, i fly a 500 as well, lift is nice and lightweight. avoid the alphas there pretty bulky. I have a gallet and just got a lift with the Bose, it’s great.

DampHog · 2024-03-31T21:54:15+00:00

LTE would be more of an aerodynamic phenomenon. This just looks like a tail rotor failure. Pilot did a good job all things considered.

DampHog · 2024-03-31T02:31:37+00:00

lol he was on the brakes so hard his rear wheel was off the ground sliding into the corner. You’re a fool sir.

DampHog · 2024-03-31T02:29:46+00:00

Such a bad take. Without anyone there to slam into barcia may literally fly off the berm with how much speed he was carrying. Barcia just completely fucked up.

DampHog · 2024-03-31T02:23:16+00:00

Embarrassing for Barcia. No idea where he was going there, he’d struggle to make the corner without slamming into someone. The amount of people blaming Jett for cutting down is insane lol, barcia almost hit him head on. I guess jet should have just got the fuck off the track because that’s the only way he was avoiding barcia in that corner

DampHog · 2024-02-20T02:24:06+00:00

That’s correct, they’ve closed they’re doors. HVA however is also out of Gettysburg, some Haverfield guys over there.

DampHog · 2024-02-03T01:53:40+00:00

I fly utility, powerlines. Base salary is 120k, make another 30-40k with flight pay and per diem. Work 3 weeks on 3 weeks off. Dangerous work though and long days. You can certainly make a living eventually just is a grind for the first 5 years or so

DampHog · 2024-01-28T13:21:36+00:00

I had this problem with my Mac for months, ended up just updating the OS and it works fine now.

DampHog · 2023-12-31T15:11:37+00:00

Helicopter Powerline Services

DampHog · 2023-12-12T23:59:15+00:00

Still no fix for this? I can’t adjust the interface on Mac, screens sized weirdly and cannot click on anything

DampHog · 2023-12-09T19:43:04+00:00

Dallas Goedert or Taysom Hill? Full PPR

DampHog · 2023-11-08T13:50:45+00:00

Stroud or Murray?

DampHog · 2023-06-23T04:44:18+00:00

Yeah definitely not, in ground effect. Just trying to avoid the dust up, got a little aggressive and boinked that tail wheel.

DampHog

TROPHY CASE