A large helicopter crashed last month near Norfolk, Va., and not only wasn’t the National Transportation Safety Board mobilized, but it probably even had advance warning. The planned wreck was part of a continuing series of rotorcraft crash tests sponsored by NASA in partnership with the FAA, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army, dating back to 2009. Those first two tests involved a lightweight ex-Army OH-6 (MD500), which was hoisted 35 feet in the air on cables at the agency’s Langley Research Center and let go. Think trapeze with an abrupt stop at the bottom of the arc. This initial test investigated the efficacy of a deployable energy absorbing (DEA) composite honeycomb “cushion” installed underneath the fuselage, and whether it would protect the cabin occupants in the event of crash. According to the report following the test, “the probability of injury in the pilot, copilot or rear passenger is below the low category, indicating a very low probability of risk.”
As for the helicopter itself, the cushion did protect it enough to allow it to be recycled the following year in another drop, this time with no protection. The flight path angle (33 degrees) and speed (33 mph) were the same as in the first drop, approximating a “relatively severe but survivable helicopter crash.” Packed with instrumentation and sensors as well as four crash test dummies (including one equipped with fake internal organs), the helicopter swung forward and smacked into the concrete with enough force to crush the skids, crack the windshield open and inflict potentially paralyzing injuries to the passengers, according to the instrumentation. This time the helicopter suffered enough damage to be excused from further abuse.
A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined AIN in 2007, Curt came to the publication from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to AIN sister publication Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.
