Chopper still a danger, mum says
All the extra safety features in the world won’t make a difference to Damian Webster’s mother.
To her, improving safety in Robinson helicopters is like putting an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff.
‘‘Extra training or safety doesn’t matter, it will still fall out of the sky,’’ she says.
Christine McConway is speaking out following the release of the coroner’s report into her son’s death in 2014, which she calls a preventable tragedy.
Blenheim pilot Damian Webster died after his Robinson R44 helicopter crashed into steep bush in the Tasman district’s Kahurangi National Park.
The helicopter dropped off flight radar over the park, 35 kilometres west of Motueka, on the morning of October 7, 2014.
Webster’s body and the burnt wreckage of the helicopter were found four days later by land search and rescue teams, including the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter.
It had been a tough few years for McConway, but she said she was not prepared for her son to die in vain.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) changed a flight manual limitation regarding maximum winds speeds for inexperienced R44 pilots in 2004.
If this had remained in place Webster would have been prohibited from flying at the time of the accident, McConway said.
Her son’s death was avoidable and research into the helicopter’s design must continue, she said.
‘‘It beggars belief that people are still flying them.’’
The crash occurred after one of the main rotor blades struck the cabin and the main rotor assembly separated from the rest of the helicopter, a report from the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) found in March.
The report said the rotor strike, followed by its break away, was caused by ‘‘mast bumping’’.
This was where an excessive teetering or the ‘‘see-saw’’ movement of the main rotor causes the inner end of the blades to contact the main rotor driveshaft, or mast, while rotating.
The coroner’s report, released last month, endorsed all recommendations from the TAIC report and called for cockpit video recorders to be installed in certain classes of helicopter.
McConway said the coroner’s report confirmed what was already known, but found there was a discrepancy between which flight path her son was told to take.
The TAIC report noted Webster told another pilot and the owner of the helicopter that he was concerned about high winds in the area he would be flying.
The pilot advised him to follow the Karamea and Crow rivers so he crossed the Tasman Range south of Mount Arthur, which was clear of cloud. This was omitted from the coroner’s report.
McConway maintained her son was instructed to take the route that he did.
Robinson Helicopter Company released a statement in March saying it disagreed with much of the TAIC report.
It said the report contained ‘‘numerous technical errors and incorrect assumptions’’. The company suggested Webster’s lack of experience could have contributed to the crash.
The coroner’s report stated it was impossible to understand all of the contributory factors which combined to cause the crash as the helicopter had no on-board flight data recording system.
A spokeswoman for the CAA said changes to Robinson regulations had been introduced over the past two years as a result of its own reviews and accident reports.
‘‘This will have safety benefits for every Robinson pilot and helicopter around the world,’’ the spokeswoman said.