6-Year-Old Accidentally Starts Medevac Helicopter

cdnpilot77 · Post by **cdnpilot77** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 3:15 pm

By Stephen Pope / Published: Jun 30, 2015
Courtesy of Mankato Times

The Mayo One medevac helicopter is always a popular draw when it attends public events around its home base near Minneapolis. But visitors to the Minnesota Air Spectacular in Mankato over the weekend got the surprise of their lives when a six-year-old child who was sitting inside the EC145 somehow managed to fire up the multi-million-dollar helicopter's engines.

Witnesses described seeing Mayo One's rotor blades suddenly start turning at about 1:45 p.m. on Saturday while the helicopter was parked in the airshow's static display area.

Video of the incident shows the rotor blast having blown over a tent before a Mayo One pilot manages to reach the cockpit and initiate the shutdown procedure.

The Mayo Clinic issued a statement saying two people inside the tent suffered minor injuries.

"Mayo Clinic is conducting a thorough review and has proactively reported the incident to the Federal Aviation Administration," the hospital said. "The safety of our patients, our team members and the general public is Mayo Clinic's highest priority."

Read more at http://www.flyingmag.com/news/video-6-y ... 5rq6AJB.99

ahramin · Post by **ahramin** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 3:31 pm

Would the starter alone be able to motor the blades fast enough to blow something over? Or did a 6 year old actually manage to engage the starter and then put fuel to it?

Meatservo · Post by **Meatservo** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 3:33 pm

I always told people I bet I could figure out how to fly one, but it would be pretty tricky to figure out how to start it.

I guess I was wrong!

cdnpilot77 · Post by **cdnpilot77** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 3:53 pm

[youtube]http://youtu.be/uqNTdYRYzlI[/youtube]

Ah, stupid links....can someone slightly smarter than I post the video link properly? Thanks

Boreas · Post by **Boreas** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:09 pm

http://youtu.be/uqNTdYRYzlI

cdnpilot77 · Post by **cdnpilot77** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:12 pm

Thanks Boreas, although I said smarter

Boreas · Post by **Boreas** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:21 pm

Haha, I just had to figure it out again. I had completely forgotten.

For the record, copy and paste what you have in the address bar when on youtube.com, but remove the 's' after http and the '&feature=youtu.be' at the end before putting it in.

For example: take https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqNTdYR ... e=youtu.be and change it to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqNTdYRYzlI before using the youtube function.

Cheers.

SuperchargedRS · Post by **SuperchargedRS** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 5:05 pm

FADEC? I know of some planes it's just a stsrt position and the systems do the rest?

Personally I'd just pop off the quick connect on the battery before leaving the aircraft like that.

all_ramped_up · Post by **all_ramped_up** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:18 pm

SuperchargedRS wrote:FADEC? I know of some planes it's just a stsrt position and the systems do the rest?

Personally I'd just pop off the quick connect on the battery before leaving the aircraft like that.

I was thinking the same thing about the battery!

People are Animals! Two seconds of foresight could have avoided that incident.

If there's a switch not to touch... It's going to be the first one pushed. Murphy's Law innit?

Nark · Post by **Nark** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:23 pm

And the parents/guardians aren't to blame?

Nark · Post by **Nark** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:08 pm

And the plot thickens!

Turns out it wasnt a young child......

FAA says a teen, not young child, cranked up helicopter at Mankato air show
A witness saw a young child removed; officials haven’t rule out there being multiple people in the chopper at the time.

By Paul Walsh Star Tribune

JULY 1, 2015 — 5:32AM
Federal aviation investigators said they have determined that it was a 17-year-old — and not a much younger child — who started a helicopter while the aircraft was on display over the weekend during an air show near Mankato, a U.S. agency spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The additional information from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) raises the possibility that more than one person was in the helicopter at the time.

On Saturday, the rotor blades of the Mayo Clinic medical emergency helicopter unexpectedly began whirring at the Minnesota Air Spectacular at the Mankato Regional Airport. The sudden blast of wind knocked over a large sun shield on the tarmac, and two people were hit and slightly injured.

A worker at the show video-recorded a portion of the brief time when the helicopter was roaring and said he saw a Mayo aviation employee remove a crying boy from the aircraft. Agro Gushwa, 15, estimated that the boy was 6 years old.

On behalf of the FAA, spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said its agency has “confirmation the 17-year-old was the person at the controls, and … nobody else was in the cockpit.” Cory did not specify the teen’s gender.

Neither Cory nor Mayo Clinic Medical Transport spokesman Glenn Lyden has ruled out the possibility that more than one person was in the helicopter. Along with the cockpit, the aircraft has space in back that can be configured for up to nine people.

Cory said the FAA is investigating the incident and its probe could last for weeks.

At 17 transport Canada thought I had enough responsibility not to kill someone. Not sure here...

FighterPilot · Post by **FighterPilot** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:14 pm

Turbines, so easy to start a 6 year old can do it...

duramaxguy · Post by **duramaxguy** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 2:04 pm

They (EC145) are FADEC. Providing the battery master is on it takes one flick of a toggle switch and they'll start themself.

FighterPilot · Post by **FighterPilot** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 2:19 pm

Exactly my point

Heliian · Post by **Heliian** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:46 pm

that is not an accident and it's also ridiculous that the crew would leave the helicopter in a state that it could be started and also totally ridiculous that the rotors got turning that speed, it's quite a few seconds from switch on to idle. But ya, go merica! He would have had to put the batt on, fuel valve on and engine mode switch on. I blame the crew 100%, having done many dog and pony shows, the a/c is ALWAYS secured in a state that it can't be started or damaged in any way, not to mention that no one goes in the a/c without a crew member standing nearby. But hey, accidents happen right? As for the rotor wash flipping the tent over, well I'm sure they'll argue in court that the winds created by a helicopter at ground idle should not have been sufficient to blow over a properly secured tent.

human garbage · Post by **human garbage** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 4:21 pm

SuperchargedRS wrote:... Personally I'd just pop off the quick connect on the battery before leaving the aircraft like that.

That is SOP for car shows. Just prevents random horn honking as starting isn't an issue sans keys...

boogs82 · Post by **boogs82** » Sat Jul 04, 2015 6:13 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DcU-v7Joso

Startup is this easy with the fuel and battery on.

6-Year-Old Accidentally Starts Medevac Helicopter

6-Year-Old Accidentally Starts Medevac Helicopter

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