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Author
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Topic: Astronauts Engle's, Gibson's helicopter crashes
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DJS
Member Posts: 23
From: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Registered: Jun 2011
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posted 06-30-2011 09:49 AM
   
I know that, Gene Cernan, Joe Engle, and Ed Gibson all crashed helicopters and that in Cernan's case there was an investigation. Were there also investigations into Engle's and Gibson's crashes? |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 06-30-2011 06:59 PM
There is an investigation after EVERY crash. |
Steve Procter
Member Posts: 1031
From: Leeds, Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Oct 2000
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posted 07-01-2011 03:27 AM
Yes, there will always be an investigation by the appropriate authority in whichever country an accident occurs. Depending on what and where it will be conducted by civilian or military authorities.I wasn't aware of Joe Engle's helicopter flying accident (I am with Gibson's) I assume it was during his pre-NASA days. |
golddog
Member Posts: 210
From: australia
Registered: Feb 2008
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posted 07-01-2011 05:05 AM
I read that Joe Engle had an engine failure in a helicopter at night and only through his experience and skill was able to perform an auto rotation landing at night - I think that was in Walt Cunningham's book but not sure. |
DJS
Member Posts: 23
From: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Registered: Jun 2011
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posted 07-01-2011 07:16 AM
It was in Walt Cunningham's book and Deke's book. However, neither said the cause of the accident. It may have been engine failure or he may have ran out of gas. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 08-05-2013 10:38 AM
I'm curious as to why Ed Gibson was checked out to fly helicopters as an astronaut. I was under the assumption that this was part of training to fly the lunar module. Was Gibson in the pool of astronauts being trained as potential lunar landing crew members? |
Skylon
Member Posts: 274
From:
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 08-06-2013 08:31 AM
I was never clear on that either. Slayton's account concludes with the crash having no effect on Gibson's career and that it was clear "there weren't going to be many scientist-astronauts landing on the moon, anyway." I also thought helicopter training was limited to LM pilots, as Mike Collins lamented when he was reassigned from LMP to CMP on Frank Borman's crew that there would be "no more helicopter training."But, I suppose its possible that everyone was checked out on helicopters and then, priority was given to assigned CDRs and LMPs, while the 1965 and 1966 guys still working support jobs had access to practice for potential LMP slots and assigned CMPs ranked last at access to helicopters. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 08-06-2013 03:02 PM
Did Owen Garriott, Joe Kerwin and Curt Michel undergo helicopter training as well? |
ilbasso
Member Posts: 1522
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 08-06-2013 10:12 PM
I have talked with Fred Haise and Al Worden about their days flying helicopters. |
astro-nut
Member Posts: 946
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 08-11-2013 09:50 AM
When did Joe Engle and Ed Gibson crash their helicopters? Looking for the actual dates of the crashes. Thank you. |
rdmeyersr
New Member Posts: 5
From: Pearland, Texas USA
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 01-03-2014 08:47 AM
Ed Gibson crashed on August 2, 1969. It was a Saturday night. Will report more when I can. |
David C
Member Posts: 1015
From: Lausanne
Registered: Apr 2012
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posted 01-03-2014 10:11 AM
quote:
Originally posted by golddog:
...only through his experience and skill was able to perform an auto rotation landing at night
I was talking to an Apollo astronaut recently about Engle's mishap, and that's a rather rose tinted version of events. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 01-03-2014 01:16 PM
quote:
Originally posted by rdmeyersr:
Ed Gibson crashed on August 2, 1969.
There were only two helicopter crashes investigated by the FAA for that date. The first took place at Bishop, Cal. at 08.55. It was caused by a tail low landing caused by an improper level off and improper use of the flight controls. The second was at Hill City, SD. at about midday. It happened on initial climb-out with the helicopter colliding with wires and a pole. In both instances the pilot was unnamed and not injured. So, was either of these Gibson? On edit: Having failed to find details of Cernan's incident on the FAA accident report listings, could it be that NASA crashes weren't investigated or were the reports censored? |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
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posted 04-30-2017 12:06 PM
Lot 50120 of Heritage Auctions' May 2017 Space Exploration Signature Auction features an Apollo 12 Lunar Module Flown Waist Tether presented to Apollo 12 lunar EVA CapCom Dr. Edward Gibson.The associated Certificate of Authenticity signed by Gibson in November 2016 reads, in part: The Award reads:"Presented to Dr. Edward G. Gibson by the Crew of Apollo XII. This tether was flown to the Ocean of Storms, Moon, November 1969, and is qualified to extract astronauts from sticky situations." "Sticky situations" refers to my reduction of a Bell 47 helicopter to only its name plate during an "unusual landing" in a sticky mud flat north of Houston, Texas in the fall of 1969. A picture of the aforementioned Bell 47 looking somewhat less than pristine is included: |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
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posted 01-18-2018 01:10 AM
NASA SP-2004-4535 The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle pp. 139-140 has the following interesting passage:As Algranti later recalled about this period at Ellington:We had three different fatal T-38 accidents, and each investigation took a significant toll on Aircraft Operations Division resources. These were followed by another three accidents, starting with Joe Engle, astronaut pilot representative on the C.C. Williams (T-38 NASA 922) accident board, who had a training helicopter accident (late in 1967)–out of gas at night!–with no injury, but which totaled the OH-13H Army chopper (NASA 931). The Center assigned Neil Armstrong to head up the Engle helicopter accident board–then he (Armstrong) had his LLRV accident on 8 May 1968. MSC management then had Joe Algranti head up the Armstrong LLRV Accident and Algranti had his LLTV (NASA 950) accident on 8 December 1968. Evidently, an assignment to an MSC aviation accident board was not good for a career resumé. |
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