Pilot walks into chopper blade

October 04, 2005 A 58-year-old Queensland helicopter instructor with more than 30 years experience is undergoing surgery after walking into a slowly revolving rotor blade.

He had just completed a training flight in the two-seat Hughes 300 chopper when the accident happened. (He’s training other people! Yikes!)

Police said he had shutdown the chopper, removed his helmet (of course!) and was walking away when he was hit on the head by the slow moving main blades. (Woo hoo! Free haircut!)

The pilot received a compound fracture to the skull and was rushed by the Energex Community Rescue Helicopter (oh the irony) to the Royal Brisbane Hospital in a serious condition.

Energex pilot John Hodges said the blades were moving between 20 and 30 revolutions a minute when the accident occurred.

"He was lucky the blades were moving relatively slow," he said.

"Had they been going at full speed it would have been all over for him."

Submitted on 10/04/2005

Submitted by: Tracey Smith
Reference: www.theaustralian.new.com

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Greg said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
Your source wasn't accurate enough, but I found this: http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16814660%255E3102,00.html .... this sort of thing is reasonably common, and it would need a better write-up - BUT we don't have anything like that in the archives, it is true and he was an instructor which means he really SHOULD have known better. I say put it to the vote!

James said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
I'm with Greg here, particularly on the need for a better write-up (cut-n'-paste news stories are RARELY funny as written). Anyhoo, 11,000 flying hours is a LOT of time, and it would seem complacency set in. He SHOULD have known better...!

Jack said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
While accidents of this sort occasionally happen to passengers, it's not often that a rated pilot with that much experience gets caught.

Charles said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
there is little I can add to what other people have said here.

Jorge said:
Maybe Toss: Lacks Excellence