Breaking news Trooper 2 Crashes

[jlfree25]

Buddy of mine who flies for Eagle One was called in yesterday flying mechanics/inspectors to all the Trooper Helo locations for inspections - the Glide Slope indicator might of been the culprit (NTSA has already hinted to this in briefings.)

This is what has been said in briefings and is common knowledge;
Trooper 2 was flying back from Waldorf and got into heavy clouds/fog - the pilot went to fly by instruments and set a course to AAFB and called for an ambulance to meet them there to transport 2 patients to PG General. All appeared well until the helo dropped off of radar, last transmission was "I lost my glide slope."

This is PURE Speculation at this time;
The pilot believed he was flying correctly by instrument in the clouds/fog until he noticed the tree-tops or something was wrong with the glide slope indicator; he made the radio transmission and they crashed.

Flying with the glide-slope indicator in the proper position leads the pilot to believe everything is ok. If it is not working correctly the angle of entry to the LZ will be off, either to shallow (not too bad) or to steep (REALLY bad), apparently it was too steep as they came up short of Andrews. If there is one thing in this scenario to take any type of comfort, is the entire crew and passengers did not spend 30 seconds of pure hellish panicking with an inverted helo or spinning wildly out of control; we can only hope they did not know what happened.

One question I did ask was "why did it take them so long to find the crash?" There is an emergency beacon that transmits a radio frequency to help rescuers locate the crash. Unfortunately in the heavy fog they could not launch the search aircraft used to triangulate this rescue signal. So the search went by ground...

Regardless, it is a horrible tragedy and many lives are affected...

Thanks for the update. To everyone I started another thread as to an idea to help Tonya's family. Please check it out.

 

[Pandora]

Clev,

I have that deep rooted feeling this crash may have been the result of equipment problems. I knew Stephen very well and he was an excellent pilot and had more time flying than most of us have on Earth.

Thanks for the update, even if just speculation at this time. I think about ½ the helicopter fleet is more than 18 years old and was slated to be replaced soon, but the budget problems was thought to set that back, again, however, I think this may make it a priority now.

Do you have a clue how old Trooper #2 was? Trooper #2 slammed down behind Jimmy’s Paddock in the early 90’s (basically went up, got as far as the power lines and slammed back on the ground) and I believe it was repaired and back in service but wasn't sure....

 

[clevalley]

Clev,

I have that deep rooted feeling this crash may have been the result of equipment problems. I knew Stephen very well and he was an excellent pilot and had more time flying than most of us have on Earth.

Thanks for the update, even if just speculation at this time. I think about ½ the helicopter fleet is more than 18 years old and was slated to be replaced soon, but the budget problems was thought to set that back, again, however, I think this may make it a priority now.

Do you have a clue how old Trooper #2 was? Trooper #2 slammed down behind Jimmy’s Paddock in the early 90’s (basically went up, got as far as the power lines and slammed back on the ground) and I believe it was repaired and back in service but wasn't sure....

I believe I heard the date of this bird was 1989 - it was a Dolphin and that is about the time I remember them getting knew helicopters. I am not a helo expert by any stretch, I just know a few pilots closely.

I do know the one that went down just went through a 100K hour inspection/maintenance schedule.

I do remember the bounce behind Jimmies Paddock, a buddy of mine was on the LZ with Waldorf. I think you are right, it was put back into service. One guy I know spun Eagle One off of its landing skid/pallet thing and did some slight damage to it, all cosmetic. Even then they did a complete inspection on the entire unit; they had to send it back to Bell for the process.

 

[Dymphna]

Clev,

I have that deep rooted feeling this crash may have been the result of equipment problems. I knew Stephen very well and he was an excellent pilot and had more time flying than most of us have on Earth.

Thanks for the update, even if just speculation at this time. I think about ½ the helicopter fleet is more than 18 years old and was slated to be replaced soon, but the budget problems was thought to set that back, again, however, I think this may make it a priority now.

Do you have a clue how old Trooper #2 was? Trooper #2 slammed down behind Jimmy’s Paddock in the early 90’s (basically went up, got as far as the power lines and slammed back on the ground) and I believe it was repaired and back in service but wasn't sure....

Article I read yesterday, but can't find now said it was the second oldest helicopter in the fleet.

I do know the one that went down just went through a 100K hour inspection/maintenance schedule.

That same article said that the inspection was finished just this past Wednesday.

 

[Danzig]

Do you have a clue how old Trooper #2 was? Trooper #2 slammed down behind Jimmy’s Paddock in the early 90’s (basically went up, got as far as the power lines and slammed back on the ground) and I believe it was repaired and back in service but wasn't sure....

Link below are photos of 3 different Trooper 2 Helos
http://johndoug.smugmug.com/gallery/6088454_Sh2Mv#382698594_hWT4B

Trooper 2 or trooper 7 are just numbers they stick in the window.
In the third photo Trooper 7 is N61MD and Trooper 2 is N94MD.
In the fourth and fifth photo Trooper 2 is N82MD (look at the 82 above the front window)
In photo number eight Trooper 2 is N92MD and has no hoist off the right had side.
Photo eighteen was taken at Leonardtown September 3rd and Trooper 2 was still N92MD at that time.

Just because something happened to Trooper 2 in the past does not mean it was the same Trooper 2.

 

[TheJudge]

My thoughts and prayers to all the families.

very sad indeed.

 

[Ken King]

Found this link, says it was a 100 hour inspection and that the pilot had trouble capturing the glideslope for an ILS landing. The weather also seemed marginal at best. Bus Av Now Blog Article

 

[clevalley]

That same article said that the inspection was finished just this past Wednesday.

I heard word of mouth... but one was just done...

Found this link, says it was a 100 hour inspection and that the pilot had trouble capturing the glideslope for an ILS landing. The weather also seemed marginal at best. Bus Av Now Blog Article

I guess I hit the K after my 100 kinda quick... I have 100K to spend on servers.

Nice find.

 

[Kittykat33]

Heard about this earlier at the race and it's just devastating.

Please pray for Jordan she's in very serious condition with slim chances of survival.

JOrdan and her family are close family friends. She has been in surgery since 11pm last night. Please Pray for her!!!

 

[belvak]

Very sad. My thoughts and prayers to all the family and friends of those who perished, and to Jordan.

 

[cgwife]

JOrdan and her family are close family friends. She has been in surgery since 11pm last night. Please Pray for her!!!

Please keep us updated. She is definatley in my family's thoughts and prayers, we are pulling for her!!!

 

[thebird]

JOrdan and her family are close family friends. She has been in surgery since 11pm last night. Please Pray for her!!!

I'm keeping her and her family in my prayers...as well as everyone else who was involved. I will say this, Jordan seems to be one heck of a survivor. She survived a car accident that required her to be flown out from the scene, only to survive a helicopter crash and not be found for 2 hours. I pray that her survivor skills carry her through this surgery and recovery.

 

[AndyMarquisLIVE]

JOrdan and her family are close family friends. She has been in surgery since 11pm last night. Please Pray for her!!!

PM me.

I was going to swing by and see them after work. They're all in all good people the whole family. They'd help anybody without hesitation. They did nothing to deserve this huge emotional, physical and financial burden.

Prayers for everyone's family are on order.

The Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department has been doing a karaoke contest to raise money every Friday night up at Unos. This Friday night is the last week of their fundraiser contest so if you would like I urge you to come out to Uno's in St. Charles and give whatever you can in donations.

They risk their lives every time they go to save someone else's life. This weekend showed that. Tanya's death was not in vain. It was an act of honor, brave humility and she unfortunately paid the ultimate sacrifice.

 

[Danzig]

Article I read yesterday, but can't find now said it was the second oldest helicopter in the fleet.

The one that went down was N92MD
Below are the aircraft numbers and the date the FAA Certification was issued

N57MD
FAA Certification Issued: 1989-05-01

N92MD
FAA Certification Issued: 1989-06-07

N93MD
FAA Certification Issued: 1989-09-25

N94MD
FAA Certification Issued: 1989-10-23

N95MD
FAA Certification Issued: 1989-11-15

N96MD
FAA Certification Issued: 1989-11-28

N97MD
FAA Certification Issued: 1990-07-17

 

[jp2854]

wow danzig is full of knowledge I see .

 

[nana]

Heard about this earlier at the race and it's just devastating.

Please pray for Jordan she's in very serious condition with slim chances of survival.

If this is the young girl that I met a couple of months ago beautiful girl my prayers for the family and all the others that lost their loved ones

 

[Pandora]

Link below are photos of 3 different Trooper 2 Helos
photography by John Douglass : photos : Trooper 2- powered by SmugMug

Trooper 2 or trooper 7 are just numbers they stick in the window.
In the third photo Trooper 7 is N61MD and Trooper 2 is N94MD.
In the fourth and fifth photo Trooper 2 is N82MD (look at the 82 above the front window)
In photo number eight Trooper 2 is N92MD and has no hoist off the right had side.
Photo eighteen was taken at Leonardtown September 3rd and Trooper 2 was still N92MD at that time.

Just because something happened to Trooper 2 in the past does not mean it was the same Trooper 2.

You know Dan... I worked for the MSP at the barracks for YEARS and never knew that! In fact, I know the guys were rather upset when the Dolphin bounced (that is a good word for what happened - thanks Clev) and I believe it went to Texas??? to be repaired and was out of service for a while. It was a fairly new to them at the time and they weren't sure if it was going to be repaired or not. It is hard to believe that 1989 was 19 years ago... Doesn't seem like it has been that long.

Have they always swapped them around like this?

 

[cattitude]

pssst....it's Dauphin..not dolphin.

 

[CMC122]

You know Dan... I worked for the MSP at the barracks for YEARS and never knew that! In fact, I know the guys were rather upset when the Dolphin bounced (that is a good word for what happened - thanks Clev) and I believe it went to Texas??? to be repaired and was out of service for a while. It was a fairly new to them at the time and they weren't sure if it was going to be repaired or not. It is hard to believe that 1989 was 19 years ago... Doesn't seem like it has been that long.

Have they always swapped them around like this?

All the helo's used to be rotated around the state. It was the best attempt at trying to keep the wear and tear the same on all of them.

 

[Pandora]

pssst....it's Dauphin..not dolphin.

Clev started it! Thanks for correcting that, the pilots would be insulted for sure.

All the helo's used to be rotated around the state. It was the best attempt at trying to keep the wear and tear the same on all of them.

It certainly makes sense... All I ever did was direct them to the LZ and never worked that end. The rescue portion seriously dealt with a lot of stuff my stomach could never handle.


Andy or Kitty ,

Do you have any updated information about Jordan? I heard she was in very critical condition.

I got the memorial photo a few times on my cell today. Not sure where it originated but it is absolutely beautiful.