Back to Squawk list
  • 23

6 yr old starts up EC145 at Mankato (KMKT)Air Show

Enviado há
 
Freak happening, when a 6 year old child managed to start up an EC145 on Saturday, June 27, 2015 (www.startribune.com) Mais...

Sort type: [Top] [Newest]


jimquinndallas
Jim Quinn 4
I don't know about others here, but anytime I've displayed an aircraft at an open house there was ALWAYS a pilot or crew member assigned to supervise the plane. Kids AND adults can ceertainly mess with things they shouldn't be messing with. As far as this helicopter incident, I'm wondering if it was perhaps on standby for a medevac flight and thus ready to get going in a hurry, in which case I'm surprised a crewmember was not closer at hand. Just my two cents' worth....
safreivald
sue freivald 3
Where were the boy's parents!
paviation07
sam kuminecz 3
don't blame the kid or the pilot...but where were the child's parents?
any time I take my daughter on a flight I don't allow her to touch anything without permission.

when we go to airshows or fly-ins we remember the old car show saying...."a car (aircraft) is like another man's wife....you can look but you cant touch!"
pwstuart
Peter Stuart 2
A couple of months ago I got to tour a vintage DC3 in Great Falls Montana. A pilot sat in seat in the cockpit. Just sitting there making sure no knuckle heads grab the wrong lever.
Wake up Med Pilots - people are stupid.
Michel0
Michel B. 2
People tends to forget that medias exist to make money not to inform people
bobhoban328
robert hoban 2
I don't care what anybody sez, thats funny......


Can he log that time as PIC?

What did you do this weekend Susan? I went to the zoo. Nice
What did you do this weekend Bobby? I went bike riding with my parents. Wonderful
What did you do this weekend Steven? I started up a multimillion dollar turbine helicopter all by myself! Now Steven remember our conversation about exaggeration?
lynx318
lynx318 2
Should have taken up that "child lock" option on purchase. Could also be the next Stringfellow Hawk¿
pilatuspilot
Rob Claybrook 2
I don't fly helicopters but I do have a couple decades of flying light jets and turboprops. I also didn't watch the video but I've never flown a plane than didn't take several buttons and switches to start. To say nothing of moving throttles out of cutoff. A kid could conceivably climb into my plane and turn the battery on. They could also hit one of the start buttons but somehow I doubt that they could also open a throttle. Or at least do all of those things in the right order.

My question is why did they leave the battery connected? I disconnect my battery if I'm going to be on the ground overnight. I would disconnect my battery if I even thought that a bus load of booger eaters was going to cycle through my cockpit.
ronash13
Ron Nash 2
Right on. Why would you leave any machine fully able to be activated with power, by any member of the public, in a public display??
In auto shows, they only unlock the cars when the salesman/saleswoman is demonstrating the features to a potential buyer.
Many years ago, locally, the dealers used to leave cars, trucks, tractors and machinery that was on show, wide open for all the ratbag public to maul.
Then the dealers and sales people would find knobs and badges and any other removable "souvenir", missing, by the truckload at the end of the day! So that was the end of that clever idea!
With aircraft and their attendant complexity, it would be more important than ever, to keep the public out of the seats at the controls, unless the person was a potential buyer, or a trained pilot.
tduggan2010
Tim Duggan 4
Oh.....NOW I see it is a "file photo"....nevertheless? The term "tarmac" MUST be erased from reporters' lexicons!!! I am tired of seeing it.

"Apron"....or "Ramp" or even "Taxiway" or "Runway"....or? AOA? Airport Operational Area....but NOT "tarmac", please....
paviation07
sam kuminecz 2
in the airforce we had a saying...."cross red your dead"
referring to the red line which you cannot cross without proper ID...cross the line without your line badge and see how fast you have a M4 pointed to the back of your head
linbb
linbb 3
Where in the hell was security? Parents? Oh forgot its ok these days to let children do what they want anywhere any time.
jbqwik
jbqwik 2
Isn't one-button auto start great?
Battery disconnect is easy and smart once you get into the habit and have the tools handy. Most PI's I know do this. In an organization, it's not so clear under what circumstances, and, who is responsible for such a task. My guess is this a/c isn't (normally) publicly accessible, and, the battery is not usually disconnected.
brownbearwolf
brownbearwolf 1
Hey, he's a Crystal kid. These children are extremely advanced and bright. They puts things together without the user manual, it is something they know mentally. So it's no surprised he fired up a turbo and no doubt remained within temp and torque limits.
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
Some times I question the being bright.... Some of them are bright in the wrong ways... If that had been my kid, he would have been airborne out of the helicopter before the helicopter could have gotten off the ground.. The kid regardless of age should have NEVER been allowed to be in that location for any reason what so ever.
safreivald
sue freivald 2
amen.
brownbearwolf
brownbearwolf 1
What is being forgotten her, is the amount of software for PC sims. Play about with them and the real panel isn't so confronting. ALso, the Psychologist reading these replies, would gain a wealth of data on how well parents feeling about issuing punishment. The encouragement side of a child's achievements, is lacking. Some of these types of stories on different walls, are more to gauge the reactions and attitudes of those making a reply.
paviation07
sam kuminecz 1
EC145 my mistake not BK as I mentioned earlier
daerico
Eric Wilkins 1
That photo is noted as being a stock video. The video I saw online clearly shows the aircraft on tarmac
daerico
Eric Wilkins 1
Sam, its pretty fast. lol
planedoc63
Bob Holdridge 1
Interesting update to the story -

http://www.aviationpros.com/news/14024379/faa-says-a-teen-not-young-child-cranked-up-helicopter-at-mankato-air-show?utm_source=AMT+E-Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AVVDB150625004
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
There is more to this story that meets the eye... So if I am seeing this right, the kid turned on the battery, and then initiated the engine start... I have some problems believing this story... There is more to this than meets the eye.
planedoc63
Bob Holdridge 1
There is more. The story I linked to earlier states it was a 17 year old in the cockpit. That's a lot more plausible.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Very much so... Someone map either a bad typo or doing beginners math :)
WigzellRM
Ralph Wigzell 1
Adults do dumb things also such as this infamous guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAwwKoz8Diw
livbob
Bob Livingston 1
I Heard It Was A 17 Year Old.
WigzellRM
Ralph Wigzell 1
Apparently so.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
A 17 should have known better... He needs his but tenderized... But you cannot do that any more because it will affect there out look on life and affect there personality...
distar97
Dennis Harper 1
Question: If you disconnect the battery on this bird will anything electronic need to be reset, updated etc? I know the important stuff is in nonvolatile memory.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Not any more of a reset than turning the main battery switch on and off... By disconnecting the battery the only thing you loose is manual fire suppression, and duh with a kid in that location, if they had fired the fire bottle that would have grounded the copter right there for a good period of time. Disconnecting the battery would have been a good thing.
ah6oy
Jim DeTour 1
Well being retired military knowing the screw up move up and seeing that things are executive order mandated to be allowed, it figured he will be the new chief pilot of the crew with his squeaky voice.

Not sure of the model but figures fuel pump, batteries and igniters needed to be figured out unless the kid joined ISIS and read the manual already. Yep better check his computer for a flight simulator. He has definitely been brain washed. A hot engine would make a start up easier for a lucky kid. Then the cans need checking after a lame brain kid running the startup.

No flight time so he cant log the time.
GaAubie
Ken Hardy 1
50 or so years ago, I have a A&P mechanic bet me 5 bucks I could not start a Pratt 4360 on a C-124, I did get it started but it took a couple of tries because I over primed the carb the first time. C-124's had a piston engine APU which provided the power to the engine starter so you had to start that first.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Mostly True.... The APU that they had was designed to support the battery... The APU itself could not start the 4360 because of the massive current draw from the starter... THE APU Backed up the battery so that the voltage would not have such a fall off and have detrimental effects on the battery... Where it is true it required the APU to start the engine in most cases (especially in cold weather) the battery could start it on its own, but had to be pretty much started on the first turn, 2nd tries usually required a charge before a 2nd attempt. When the APU's were not available (Broken/Deferred) they would usually use DC Ground Power just as ground power is used to start a Dash 8 and other similar type a/c that are DC based with electric starters.
GaAubie
Ken Hardy 1
I remember when I hit the starter switch, the APU had a noticeable loss of rpm's until the 4360 fired off which must have been the current draw on the battery. I was just a kid working my way through college and working at a plant that overhauled C-124's KC-97's KB-50's and a few C-118's which has R-2800's much easier to start. nothing like a big radial aircraft engine, remember the John Wayne movie the High and The Mighty ? that movie got me interested in a career associated with aviation
tduggan2010
Tim Duggan 1
What bugs me the most about this story? NOT that a young kid would know how to start the turbines AND start up a helicopter (YouTube...hello!!).....it's that the 'copter is on a GRASS field....and the "reporter" used the word "tarmac"!!! Based on the photo that accompanies the on-line article...
THRUSTT
THRUSTT 7
Grassmac
paviation07
sam kuminecz 1
seems like more of luck that he did what he did....I don't know about the BK117 operating system but I assume its battery set to AC bus, then set to ON, fuel flow ON, then holding in starter til you have ignition...in that order

maybe im mistaken

Entrar

Não tem uma conta? Registre-se agora (gratuito) para funcionalidades personalizáveis, alertas de vôo e mais!
Você sabia que o rastreamento de voos da FlightAware é patrocinado por anúncios?
Você pode nos ajudar a manter o FlightAware gratuito, permitindo anúncios de FlightAware.com. Trabalhamos muito para manter nossa publicidade relevante e discreta para criar uma ótima experiência. É rápido e fácil permitir anúncios no FlightAware ou, caso prefira, considere nossas contas premium.
Ignorar