Bristow 300 In Training Accident

I’ve received several tips from readers regarding an accident involving a Bristow Schweizer 300 at Witham field on Saturday. The sequence of events are quite scary: The instructor and 24-year-old student had just landed when the instructor exited the helicopter to allow the student to complete the shutdown procedure. For some reason, the helicopter became [...]

269D (330/333) Autos Onto Freeway

A Schweizer 269D operated by the San Antonio police department radioed a mayday around 7:15 p.m. Thursday night. The helicopter’s pilot and passenger were headed to the northern part of the city when they experienced an engine failure near highway 281. They were able to land the 3-year-old helicopter successfully and nobody was injured during [...]

300 Force Lands In Colorado

A Schweizer 300 with two people on board force landed / hard landed / crashed onto a field at the Legacy High School in Broomfield, Colorado earlier today. The incident took place just before 4 p.m. with witnesses stating they heard the engine make a pop noise, stutter and then it came down. Luckily neither [...]

If Your School Doesn’t Do This, Complain

Colorado Heli-Ops offers not just one camera angle during instructional flights, they have four! Being able to review your performance in such detail after an instructional flight is an invaluable tool for learning. The video footage combined with all the audio, including radio traffic, is a fantastic way to analyze your flight and continue your [...]

Emergency Landing In Florida

A few news outlets out of Florida are reporting that a Schweizer 269 has made an emergency landing due to a tail rotor strike. The pilot and passenger landed on the median of State Road 528 in Cocoa around 1 p.m. No further damage was incurred in what looks to be a well executed forced [...]

I Can’t Land

An unusual incident happened at the Ardmore Airport in New Zealand over the weekend. A pilot and his passenger were doing a photography flight in a Schweizer 269C-1 when apparently the throttle became stuck. They flew over to the airport and radioed that they were having this issue. Eight fire trucks showed up and the [...]