It's probably hard to tell from the single photo I provided of the
exterior of the helicopter
<http://www.chucknorcutt.com/Scott%27s%20accident/index.htm> but, the
reason he survived the fall (from 200 feet) was that the helicopter
landed in tall trees going backwards. The tail and passenger area
crushed up like an accordian and the seats bent over backwards all of
which helped cushion the impact. But if you look at the roof you'll see
that it also buckled inwards. That caused a roof liner panel to break
free and exposed the roof's U-channel support structure. One of those
U-channels caught him near the base of his skull and created a huge V
shaped cut in his scalp which was nearly torn off by being ripped up the
back and then over toward the front until it was a big flap hanging on
at the front edge. Not a complete indian scalping job but pretty close.
You can see how much blood there is on the seat despite the fact that
he wasn't in there very long after the impact. He was still conscious
for a short time after the impact and got out of and away from the
helicopter because he was afraid of fire. The helicopter had been
refueled not long before and the tanks had burst leaving a 90 gallon
pool of jet fuel on the ground underneath.
Your scalp, of course, is chock full of blood vessels and, if it gets
cut open like that you bleed like crazy. Fortunately, an air medivac
team (whose members he knows well) were just lifting off from a hospital
that was 10 minutes away and they managed to give him first aid and
deliver him to a large trauma center within about 1-1/2 hours of the
accident. I later spoke to one of the surgeons who worked on him who
said that he had lost so much blood that he'd probably have died had it
taken another 20 minutes to get to the hospital.
There are about 1/2 dozen other events that transpired that day that,
had either one of them not happened, he would not have survived.
Chuck Norcutt
On 7/29/2011 10:04 AM, Chris Barker wrote:
> Hmmm! Not good. I don't think that I appreciated that at the time, Chuck.
>
> Chris
>
> On 29 Jul 2011, at 14:26, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
>
>> When I expressed surprise that his helicopter wasn't WSPS equipped when
>> even an old Huey has it he reminded me that the helicopter was purchased
>> by the State of New York which also didn't furnish helmets for their
>> pilots. It was the lack of a helmet which allowed his head injury to be
>> as serious as it was... he nearly bled to death. The state now requires
>> and provides helmets for their helicopter pilots.
>>
>> Chuck Norcutt
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