Duke HEMS crash

CANMAN

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Duke LifeFlight H145 down, 4 confirmed fatalities :( No word on potential cause yet. They were patient loaded for an IFT mission when they went down.
 

MonkeyArrow

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From the picture in the link that Epi posted, there isn't much of anything left of the helicopter. Must've hit the ground fast.
 
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CANMAN

CANMAN

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Sounds like they got a call off stating they were doing a precautionary landing secondary to transmission caution or warning light, and that was the last transmission.

Have seen some pics where the rotor system both main and tail were relatively intact. If I had to guess I would say the transmission seized up completely, which if that happens you cannot uncouple the transmission and enter an autorotation, and thus would just fall to the ground. Definitely looks mechanical though, and really want to follow up on the cause. These A/C are built to fly for 10-15 minutes without oil as a safe guard so really curious as to what happened.

Regardless it's a huge loss of life, makes me ponder what I do for a living now that I am married and no longer just worried about myself, and my thoughts and prayers are with the entire Duke team.
 

SandpitMedic

Crowd pleaser
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Just awful.... ugh. Makes me get that drop in my stomach.
RIP to those lost and prayers to the families and friends affected.
 

VFlutter

Flight Nurse
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Transmission seizing up is the suspicion I've heard.

Having a hard landing around here recently then this has shaken some people up. Tragic.
 

TXmed

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We fly the H145. Our chief mechanic said if he had to guess it would be the transmission seizing like mentioned above. This really hits hard.
 

RocketMedic

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I'm guessing that the transmission seizing would remove the potential for autorotation?
 

VFlutter

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I'm guessing that the transmission seizing would remove the potential for autorotation?

If I understand it correctly when the transmission seizes the main rotor does so as well and you drop like a rock.
 
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