44 Down in South Africa.

[madflyer26]

Sad to report from the southern hemisphere that a 44 went down with the loss of all pax. Condolences to those concerned.
Regards
MF26

Four killed in South African helicopter crash - Premium Times Nigeria (http://premiumtimesng.com/news/foreign/130964-four-killed-in-south-african-helicopter-crash.html)

[madflyer26]

From a source who discovered the wreckage it appears it was perhaps weather related. Turn back out of mist going up a valley hard impact with no fire.
Regards
MF26

[206Fan]

The pilot has been identified as Mr Nick More, who was also the owner of the aircraft and CEO of Lion Sands in Sabi Sands. The passengers have been identified as Mr Pierre de Villiers, Mr Lance Cooper and Ms Elmarie Martens.

Lowvelder reporter on the scene, Nicolene Smalman, confirmed that the helicopter crashed on the farm Zondagskraal, about four kilometres from the highway.
Mr Roger Mortlock, More’s flight instructor, confirmed that the aircraft departed from Casterbridge in White River at 06:30 and that as far as he knew no flight plan had to be submitted.
However, the managing director of the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA), Mr Marius Nel, said a flight plan had been submitted and it indicated that More departed from Nelspruit Airfield at 06:30 and collected passengers at Casterbridge, before departing for Grand Central Airport in Gauteng.
Mortlock said the aircraft was expected at Grand Central at 08:00. More’s wife, Jean, was notified by More’s secretary that it had never arrived, and Jean phoned Mortlock for assistance. He traced the phone’s location via GPS and found the wreckage at about 11:45.
It is thought that the accident occurred at 07:00. Mortlock described More as a very cautious pilot.
Police officers from Nelspruit, Machadodorp, Lydenburg and Badfontein were called to the scene, as well as N3 Fire and Rescue, Mpumalanga EMS and Netcare 911 paramedics.
More is survived by his wife Jean and four sons.
Cooper and More rode together in the recent MTN Panorama Cycle Tour. Cooper was a former CEO of York Timbers.
Nick and his brother Rob More were fourth-generation owners of Lion Sands. They also created a second, more luxurious establishment, Ivory Lodge.
Wreckage photos!

Helicopter crash, Schoemanskloof, April 23, 2013 - Galleries | looklocal Lowveld (http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/lowveld/lowveld-galleries?oid=7289859&sn=Detail&pid=490180&Helicopter-crash--Schoemanskloof--April-23--2013)

Very sad!

[Lizelle du Toit]

I am Lizelle du Toit, the widow of Lance Cooper, one of four people who died in the crash. Please give me all information. I need to uderstand what happenened that day.

Kind regards

Lizelle

[homonculus]

Lizelle

My sincere condolences to you. You must be going through a dreadful time, and I can understand your need for explanation.

Unfortunately the facts will only be known when the accident investigation reports. In the meantime this site may not be what you need. It is used to speculate, and often the threads go off at tangents. Some posters have preconceptions which may mislead you. I would suggest you try to find a pilot local to you who can sit down and discuss the principles, and then later help you go through the accident report.

I am posting this reply in the hope that someone who is local will volunteer. If you do not get any offers, please PM me and I will do my best to help you.

[blakmax]

Lizelle, Firstly our deepest sympathy for your tragic loss. I notice that you are only new to this site. If you want to send a "PM" as suggested by Homonculus it is a button just under your name in the Welcome box at the top of the page.

Does anyone have better photos? Am I seeing only one MRB attached to the rotor hub?

Blakmax

[Svenestron]

Dear Lizelle,
I would like to start off by expressing my very most sincere condolences.
I lack references to understand your grief so I shall not pretend to.

Like Homonculus suggested this might not be a good time to speculate and speculation will be abundant on this site from time to time.
You should, in my view, follow Homonculus advice regarding finding a local pilot who can answer your immediate questions and also help when later reading the report.
This is very sound advice!

Please notice that Homonculus did not suggest you PM people living on entirely different continents and who start their posting in this thread by asking for “better photos” so that they can get the speculation started..

Best Regards

[s e t h]

hi Lizelle

i too am sorry about your loss.
probably the longest thread with the most information will be found in the academy and flight safety sub-forum at avcom.co.za
you will need to register to gain access to that subforum.
there you will easily find local south african pilots that have some idea what may have happened.
as mentioned above however speculation is encouraged on that forum.
from my reading of it so far there are some suggestions as to what may have occured but without the final investigation report everything is speculation at this point.
i'm sure there will be someone happy to answer whatever questions you have in private and help you to find what you seek.

be warned that speculation is what you will find with few if any facts.
however there will undoubtedly be some countrymen who will volunteer to assist you however they are able

[topendtorque]

Hi Lizelle and deepest sympathies also from my neck of the woods.

Most unfortunately I am referenced in your predicament, as is one other that I know of above, and in the depths of the void upon which you are now embarking - please feel free to PM me anytime you wish. There are strengths that you can draw upon, though they will be hard for you to see right now. One thing about the pprune is that I think it a mature helpful community, sure it is worldwide but everyone on it is as close to you as your computer in your own home, be they living extraordinary distances away and may offer advise or assistance of any sort. That may be based on the fact the aviation community especially rotary have a strong kinship anywhere.

I have no idea of the adequacy of your Federal Aviation Investigative agency, but many here view ours with somewhat a jaundiced eye at times. I came away from one encounter with our ATSB in a particularly bruised state. That is why speculation on here - where I think most of the worlds best and most experienced pilots and engineers are - is healthy as this input is often scrutineered by those very agencies to which I refer.

As you may know rotor blade failures in the Robinson type has been extremely topical of late and for those of us who fly the type day in day out, we also would wish to gather as much information, especially photographs about every accident on the type as is possible.
So I too would welcome the request for any photographs especially when it may be viewed by one as experienced professionally in blade structures and bonding as is blakmax above. Not that either he or I are speculating that a blade problem may have been contributory in this case.

It's amazing how so many rotary accidents may have what appears as a causal factor and indeed later may have been causal to a failure, but was not causal at the time of the accident. That was the problem with my encounter with ATSB when their investigators jumped to a conclusion in their own inexperience in things rotary.

May I conclude by letting you know that are many who view this who have been through what you are experiencing and who will be feeling deeply for you. If we can see or hear any more data on the accident then if we can we might be able to contribute in a healthy manner.

all the very best
tet