NH90 crashes into Bracciano Lake during an airshow June 2, 2008
Posted by David Cenciotti in Italian Air Force, Military Aviation, NH90 crash.Tags: Ali sul Lago, Bracciano, Italian Air Force Museum, NH90, Vigna di Valle, Viterbo
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An NH90 helicopter, serialled MM81519 EI-202 of the 1 Gr Sq of the Italian Army based in Viterbo crashed on June 1, in the Bracciano Lake at 15.15L causing the death of Cap. Filippo Fornassi. The other 2 POB (People On Board) were rescued and survived the injuries. The aircraft was at the end of its display in the Ali sul Lago airshow in front of the Italian Air Force Museum, at Vigna di Valle airport. I was attending the show when I saw the helicopter performing a fiesler with an apex at low altitude: as soon as the aircraft’s nose was diving towards the lake, I understood that the pilot could not recover the chopper before touching the water. The aircraft touched the surface of water and broke up in many pieces before ditching. To watch an amateur video of the accident, take a look at the following Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXtGsxxfNT4
I took the following pictures during the accident (images are copyrighted and have a watermark because they can’t be used for any purpose without prior permission).
The following pictures were taken during the display, a few minutes before the accident.
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I'm the author of "F-104 Storia di un mito", the only official book published by the Italian Air Force to celebrate the retirement of the Starfighter in 2004. I'm also a photographer and my pictures have been used in books, magazines, websites and calendars.
This is a place to talk about military aviation, flying, photography and much more.
The above image was created by Andy Spagna, as a gift for my first trap landing on the USS Nimitz, by modifying a real "Centurion" patch celebrating the 100 arrested landing on the aircraft carrier.
That helicopter looks to be the U.S. Blackhawk helicopter, or something from that familly, very odd that it would crash that easily.
that is not a sikorsky helicopter. it is made by nhindustries, founded by a combination of three european companies; agusta, eurocopter and stork fokker. a simple search of nh90 brings up more info than this. there are a number of things you cant see that can bring a helicopter down like maintenance issues, fod (including birds) and lack of time in seat with whatever specific model you are flying (each make and model handles very differently). hate to see such accidents. my thoughts for the lost and a speedy recovery to the survivors.
Salve a tutti. Innanzitutto vorrei esprimere il mio più sincero cordoglio alla famiglia del Cap. Fornassi: son convinto che su tutto è prevalso, in quell’istante, l’istinto naturale di preservazione della vita umana, a costo, purtroppo ed inesorabilmente, della propria…
Poi… questo incidente mi ha davvero sconvolto in quanto conoscevo bene il GITA#3: ci son salito qualche volta, per lavoro, ed a terra (non immaginate quanto mi sarebbe piaciuto starci in volo, ma non ne ho mai avuto l’opportunità), e sapere che è andato distrutto, con esso è andato in fondo al lago anche parte del mio entusiasmo per aver contribuito alla realizzazione di una macchina così affascinante.
Kryotech, this elicopter was new (delivered to Army a few mounths ago) and I think that the reason of the accident was, most probably, due to an insufficient altitude from which started the performance of the fiesler. If you will see in the Agusta web site, you will read that this elicopter can flight in absolute safe mode also in OEI (One Engine Inoperative) and it is equipped with two excellent GE engines. Look around the web: you will find a lot of videos about it…
Bye
Sono un 1° Maresciallo Radar Meccanico in pensione e la passione per il volo mi ha portato a Bracciano quel giorno maledetto. Avevo visto l’NH 90 a Viterbo il giorno della consegna all’E.I. E’ stato a dir poco un evento traumatico impressionante e pensare che il giorno della presentazione, in condizioni meteo proibitive, con acqua e vento di notevoli intensità, aveva fatto le stesse cose ed era andato tutto ok. Impressionante. Un pensiero al Cap. Fornassi, alla sua famiglia per la grave perdita ed ai suoi colleghi. Ho vissuto con trepidazione quei momenti, ero li con una bella attrezzatura fotografica ma lo shoc è stato forte e non sono riuscito a seguire il resto del volo fino all’impatto perchè avevo intuito a metà della sfogata che avrebbe toccato l’acqua. E’ stato terribile.
Anyone who thinks this is because of the helicopter is an idiot. This was complete incompetence of the pilot. If you look at the youtube video you will see the pilot doing the most ridiculous maneuvers above a lake with people. Yes; Thats Right; There were actually people on the lake while he was flying. That alone should have canceled the whole show. Demonstrations above the public are illegal. And the maneuvers he did were much to low as well. Especially such a role over. How stupid are these pilots and organizers. Enough have died during air shows already. You don`t even take such risk if you have 5 braincells. And yet they take such risk. Again; Just look at the video. This is complete incompetence of both the pilot and the Organization of this show.
George,
I wouldn’t talk about “incompetence”, but just about pilot error. Incompetence deals with poor knowledge or training; in this case NH90 crew was much competent, skilled and with a large experience, also in combat environments. The problem is that everybody, even the most experienced pilot can misjudge or make an error, otherwise the “human factor” would not be the main reason of aviation accidents. Dealing with the position of the boat, my picture was taken with a 400mm lens, with a 1.4x teleconverted with a Canon EOS Digital (1.6x) meaning that the zoom factor is extreme. In my picture the paddle boat seems to be nearer that it actually was. It was at least 10 meters aside. For sure it was within the display area.
George, YOU are clueless. It has been PROVEN that the helicopter had a failure. There were flashes of light coming from the cockpit just prior to the crash.
In re to the “ridiculous maneuvers”, it’s an AIRSHOW YOU TOOL, that’s what pilots do during air shows.
Joe,
it is absolutely false. It was proven that the flashes of light were not coming from inside the cockpit but were simply sunlight reflexes on the windshield.
David,
the people in the yellow boat, did they survive?? It looks so close. Even if they were 10 meters away from the impact, there looks like an aweful lot of debris flying all over teh place. Did the crew survive?
Hi Chris,
the people in the yellow boat survived with minor injuries. Some burns and cuts caused by the debris. Two of the three crew member survived, one drowned and died.
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Hi David,
Very nice photos. Well done. I like them all.
Peter