Pilot claims $10 million from Hevilift aviation

[Alisoncc]

A 69-year-old Victorian pilot is claiming $10 million from an international aviation company that failed to warn him of weather conditions on the day his helicopter crashed, killing three people and leaving him unable to walk.

Bruce Towers said he "shouldn't have survived" the horrific accident, which occurred when his helicopter was suddenly engulfed in thick cloud while transporting six workers from an oil and gas mine in the highlands of Papua New Guinea in 2006.

"All of a sudden I got a sudden temperature change and it went into sheer fog on the 4,000–5,000-foot mountain," he said.

"This particular helicopter that I was flying in didn't have gyro instruments in [it] that I could keep the helicopter upright."

Within 30 seconds the helicopter slammed into a tree and crashed, falling about 50 metres, killing three passengers and "mashing" Mr Towers' spine.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-25/ ... n/11996176

Couldn't find anything as to how much experience he had flying in PNG. When I was pushing BN2A's and others around PNG you knew it was ***** weather there and the unexpected was the norm. As for "failed to warn him of weather conditions on the day", you would have to be kidding, this was PNG for fcuks sake. Mind you I was playing around there nearly fifty years ago.

PS. Interested to hear Pinkies thoughts.

[Alisoncc]

Have PM'd Pinky. I suspect he will agree with me that the flying conditions described in PNG in the article are nothing untoward.

[bob2s]

Will agree wth you on the weather changing from bright sunshine to cloud and pissing rain in a matter of minutes.Pilot and I spent a night in a clearing when the weather changed on a ferry from Kikori to Hagan, only thing that saved us was we were in a Bell206 and slowed down to walking pace till we found a clearing to allow us to land.Spent a night in the Bell Hilton feeding the mozzies.
If you need to see weather change quickly, then head to Tabubil on the Ok Tedi river in the Star Mountains,is rumored to be amongst one of the wettest places on Earth,average of approx a 1/2 meter a month.Very little flying in the afternoon was ever planned.Stay still long enough and you will be covered in moss it is so humid.
For this chap not to be aware of the weather pattern I find hard to believe.

[TheGreenGoblin]

All of which factual detail about the changeability of the weather and the likelihood of cloud and precipitation, particularly in the afternoons, begs the question of the advisability of operating an aircraft without gyro instrumentation, particularly for commercial operations.

The courts have already found against Hevilift. It is just the question of damages that needs to be decided. Sounds like this company's SOPS were severely deficient!

A court decision in 2016 found international aviation company, Hevilift, failed to provide Mr Towers with adequate flight instruments and training required for the conditions.

Justice James Henry also found the company breached its duty of care by not informing Mr Towers of weather phenomena in the region, which caused clouds to form suddenly in the late afternoon.

[Pinky the pilot]

Operating any type of aircraft without gyro instruments in that country would IMHO be somewhere between stupid, idiotic and just plain nuts!

I once landed a Bongo Van at Ononge early one morning. There was some tiny scraps of cloud about but nothing that warranted any extra caution.....or so I thought!

Carried out a normal circuit, approach and landed ok. At the top of the strip I carried out the usual 270 turn to park the A/C.

By the time I had shut down and exited the A/C I could not even see the far end of the strip!

The wake turbulence of the A/C had caused fog to form and effectively closed the strip. Had to wait for about half an hour for it to burn off sufficiently to take off.

"Check your six" was a mantra constantly repeated when it came to Mountain flying in that place.