4 killed in helicopter crash in Gunma

May their souls rest in peace.

My deepest condolences to the family of the victims.

Tragedy. The AS332L is a big helicopter and judging from the crash site picture it must have hit very hard. Hopefully the investigation saves future lives.

All helicopters are intrinsically unsafe. They have all the glide characteristics of a brick. Once the power to the rotors is interrupted "good night Vienna". They have certain very useful characteristics but are less safe than alternatives.

The Super Puma does not have a great track record for safety. My friend’s brother was lost to one in the North Sea when transferring back from an oil rig.

Government officials  should look into the safety record of the helicopter models, and manufacturers  which they buy . . . . Also in the photo, the bridge road looks warped, and looks in need of repair.

Looks like he tried to windmill it into that junction on the bridge.

Too many Helicopters fly around within Tokyo at the moment, one day, an accident will happen - perhaps involving a School, and then what....?

All helicopters are intrinsically unsafe. They have all the glide characteristics of a brick. Once the power to the rotors is interrupted "good night Vienna". They have certain very useful characteristics but are less safe than alternatives.

sorry but this is wrong. helicopters can land with no engines and even fly fairly long distances with the engines out.

witnesses of this crash say they saw something come off the back of the helicopter after a 180 degree turn.

it sounds almost certainly like a tail rotor or tail rotor shaft failure. when a complete tail rotor failure occurs you are in big trouble. it is like losing most of one wing in a normal aircraft. it makes performing an autorotation (safe landing with no engine) very difficult or impossible in some cases.

the presence of 3 mechanics onboard suggests that they may have performed some maintenance but made a mistake, or perhaps they were investigating tail rotor issues?

sorry to read about this. i saw this helicopter fly by nearly every week, no doubt i have waved at the pilot in this accident. hope that the cause is determined but these incidents with helicopters are typically very hard to solve.

The Super Puma does not have a great track record for safety.

Comments expressed very benign and sympathetic. Now if the subject helicopter was a U.S. military helicopter, especially an Osprey.........