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Indian inventor dies in homemade helicopter accident

thenationalnews.com

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Re: Indian inventor dies in homemade helicopter accident

#101

Post by bruce343434 »

jacquesm wrote: post #41
bombcar wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All those OSHA rules are "written in blood" as they say - and there are reasons for "stupid" rules like seatbelts and such - likely he would be alive had be been solidly strapped to the machine (thought of course he could have died other ways).

If not on this flight then on one of the subsequent ones, experimental helicopters are not something for those not schooled in materials science. The good news is that nobody else got injured or killed, that could have easily happened. When I built that windmill I spent hours planning individual welds, ensuring no inclusions, grinding the mating surfaces to get a perfect fit before welding, annealing them properly, m…

How much power did it generate?

Re: Indian inventor dies in homemade helicopter accident

#103

Post by fho »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #63
colechristensen wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to learn to respect your tools. In a society with guard rails everywhere and children who grow up in bubbles, it is a bit more difficult. But you do and then it becomes normal to understand that you are standing next to something that can kill you in seconds and your awareness and thoughtfulness change dramatically.

I've met enough old blokes missing fingers from workplace accidents to know that's not the case.

Yep ... most commonly accidents with table saws ... easily preventable by just not putting your fingers in the way of the blade.

Re: Indian inventor dies in homemade helicopter accident

#104

Post by jwsteigerwalt »

I really take offense with some of the descriptions in the article. He did’t learn aerospace engineering from watching YouTube. As one of my professors (who had multiple degrees from India’s finest engineering schools) put it on the first day of class “helicopters are generally a bad idea…”

Re: Indian inventor dies in homemade helicopter accident

#105

Post by capableweb »

kumarvvr wrote: post #69
vagrantJin wrote: post #48

Saw the "English version" of Indian news articles keep refering to the guy as a high school dropout in the headlines and sub headings. That's a mighty odd description that has nothing to do with the incident. I found that rather derisive and left a bitter aftertaste. Education does not neccesarily prevent accidents. Even spacecraft, built by the best engineers in the world, with the best materials, tested for years,…

> That's a mighty odd description that has nothing to do with the incident Being a high school drop-out is the reason he was killed. If he had been to a 4 year course in Mechanical engineering, he would be exposed to a lot of knowledge about the complexities of building machines

What a weird way of looking at things. With that frame of mind, I could explain all the issues I've had ever. "Oh, I hit that wall on the way out from the parking? Too bad I didn't have a racing education, then it would have been prevented" and blame it on lack of education.

The reason he was killed was because the main rotor hit his head. It did so because it wasn't following safety precautions. None of that has anything to do with his formal education.

Re: Indian inventor dies in homemade helicopter accident

#106

Post by dredmorbius »

wincy wrote: post #15

He didn't have a helmet or so much as a seatbelt in the helicopter. The tail rotor flew off, hit the main rotor at a high speed, which knocked him sideways, out of the fuselage. It was at this point his head came into contact with the spinning main rotor, likely killing him instantly. A seatbelt seems like it would have saved his life. It was recorded, which is how I know this, I honestly wouldn't suggest looking for…

Ballistic protection (and much more rigorous materials and component testing) seem like they'd have played a more critical role than a seatbelt in this particular instance.

That's not to say that personal restraint system isn't a critical component of safety equipment. Just that its role in this specific mortality mode would be negligible.

Helicoptors are complex. There are many ways they can kill you (or those around you).

Re: Indian inventor dies in homemade helicopter accident

#107

Post by kumarvvr »

capableweb wrote: post #105
kumarvvr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's a mighty odd description that has nothing to do with the incident Being a high school drop-out is the reason he was killed. If he had been to a 4 year course in Mechanical engineering, he would be exposed to a lot of knowledge about the complexities of building machines

What a weird way of looking at things. With that frame of mind, I could explain all the issues I've had ever. "Oh, I hit that wall on the way out from the parking? Too bad I didn't have a racing education, then it would have been prevented" and blame it on lack of education. The reason he was killed was because the main rotor hit his head. It did so because it wasn't following safety precautions. None of that has any…

The main rotor hit his head -> Because it suffered a material/design/ structural failure -> Because design validation or material quality checks or weld quality NDT checks or bolt sizing or balancing or lateral vibration suppression or a million other things were not checked -> Because you need to know to do that, and those are taught in an engineering course.

Re: Indian inventor dies in homemade helicopter accident

#108

Post by flyinghamster »

kumarvvr wrote: post #65
wincy wrote: post #15

He didn't have a helmet or so much as a seatbelt in the helicopter. The tail rotor flew off, hit the main rotor at a high speed, which knocked him sideways, out of the fuselage. It was at this point his head came into contact with the spinning main rotor, likely killing him instantly. A seatbelt seems like it would have saved his life. It was recorded, which is how I know this, I honestly wouldn't suggest looking for…

Was he smart? I give credit to him that he is intelligent, dedicated, hard working, etc. But smart? If he was smart, he would know that a helicopter is one of the most complex flying machines ever designed. Everything is so critical, from design of the mechanical system, right down to quality of welds and quality of material used. I have seen pics and video of the copter. Its a frame, and some blades, welded in some…

> I have seen pics and video of the copter. Its a frame, and some blades, welded in some shop. Not safe.

Not only that, but how well did he really know how to fly a helicopter or any other aircraft? It's pretty bold to be your own test pilot when you haven't had instruction in the first place.

Here's why you don't try to fly an unfamiliar aircraft without instruction, even if you have a pilot's license: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAwwKoz8Diw

Years ago, when I was taking sailplane lessons*, someone brought his brand-new autogyro to the airport. For all practical purposes, it was just a frame with a pilot's seat and a column for the main rotor. He fired it up, started down the runway, pulled back on the stick too soon and too far, and went tumbling when the main rotor contacted the ground. He was securely belted in and didn't get hurt, but his brand-new toy was a total loss.

* I got cold feet after a scary but harmless crosswind landing.

Re: Indian inventor dies in homemade helicopter accident

#110

Post by siva7 »

kumarvvr wrote: post #69
vagrantJin wrote: post #48

Saw the "English version" of Indian news articles keep refering to the guy as a high school dropout in the headlines and sub headings. That's a mighty odd description that has nothing to do with the incident. I found that rather derisive and left a bitter aftertaste. Education does not neccesarily prevent accidents. Even spacecraft, built by the best engineers in the world, with the best materials, tested for years,…

> That's a mighty odd description that has nothing to do with the incident Being a high school drop-out is the reason he was killed. If he had been to a 4 year course in Mechanical engineering, he would be exposed to a lot of knowledge about the complexities of building machines

There are lots of highly educated people in the world who have been exposed to lots of knowledge in their field and still don't adhere to best practices/common sense or even the most basic understanding of their discpline they were taught. So no, we can't say this is what killed him.
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