https://www.foxnews.com/us/charleston-county-sheriffs-office-helicopter-crashed-missing-bolt-ntsb-says

Interesting!

He did NOT have a  total T/R Failure, he had control issue, yes that can be considered a"T/R Failure "  it had 15 hrs TT since Mx, so most likely the nut wasn't TQ'd, safetied or even installed. That is NOT Pilot error DB.

Wonder what scheduled Mx was previously preformed or was it un-scheduled Mx? Either way he walked away!!!

Pay a bit now or pay a lot later 

Before attempting to land, find that sweetspot where airspeed and power will keep the nose straight, then land it like a fixed-wing.  We trained for this often in the Army.

How easy it is to know how to solve other people's problems from the armchair.  How many of you Quarterbacks have delt with a stuck pedal, done a REAL run on with little or no control or how many of you have ever had a real emergency.  Love the comradery and the shared experiences on this forum.  Just to finish the sarcasm, being old and getting a medic alert bracelet,  I had put on it " DO NOT TRANSPORT BY HELICOPTER !"  

The pilot was a very experienced aviator.  You should do some research before spouting off, showing what a complete tool you are.

How is any flight control assembly (hardware) installed and not have a second set of eyes, even if it is the pilot looking it over and checking it for security before flight? 

Called "MeatBall Maintenance" & it happens unfortunately too often. Fortunately it gets caught before an accident like this!

Even in todays helicopter world, no mechanic should ever get so comfortable with his work that he won't ask someone else to look at it when he is done. 

I don't know about every company, but the majority of companies I know of require it with a logbook entry. 

Actually, I should have said every company I know of. 

Called a compulsory check. Mech would explaine/show the pilot or second mech what they did. That person would visually look at it and the area around it for any defects such as missing hardware, tools, rags, ect. Then he would make an entry in the log stating "Compulsory Check Completed" along with name and number. 

cuz the pilot knows what he's looking at, right? didn't sleep through that module in a&p school, right? knows what right looks like...right? what was that torqued to?

just another pilot signature blindly accepting responsibility so the cheapskates don't need another mechanic on the payroll.

Good Lord, the stupidity of this place never ceases the amaze me and you are a perfect example of it. 

That's your view and I disagree. It's all about a second set of eyes looking at the work done and hopefully catching errors before they snowball into something catastrophic, kind of why you do a pre-flight. Remember it's your @$$ up there. 

if there's a need for a second set of eyes, it should be a qualified set of eyes. your pilot preflight training (condition and security) does not prepare you to QC an A&P's work. might as well just send the nurse out there to look for tools and rags.

stop covering for your cheapskate employer.

The subject is not about a major component change. If you can't see that a bolt was installed with a cotter pin such as a pitch link assembly, then I wonder what else you are not qualified to do. 

Aren't Public Use agencies exempted from most rules regarding aircraft operations?

Yes there is a Public Use exemption but very few LE agencies use it. As someone noted, very easy to arm chair QB an event that happens to someone else. We train but the real thing can be dramatically different depending on the emergency. We don't know what happened so lets wait for the investigation. 

I have been in the Helicopter Busines in all aspects for many years! I would say that one of the finest Maintenance Operations is the Houston Police Department (HPD) facility in Houston at the Hobby Airport! Visited there many times with a lot of friends working there! After 18 years of flying in the GOM I would say none of the five Companies I flew for were anywhere maintenance  wise as good as HPD!

Sp Aviation unit retired. Great Mx when I was there. Been out for long time, still proficient (even W/ AW139's😢 )

"After 18 years of flying in the GOM I would say none of the five Companies I flew for..."

I was told many years ago after run in with NYPD as long as A/C has N# it must comply with FAR's!

told you that. that would be important bro

The difference betwen hiring civilian or training sworn is the new pilot.  You can hire an experienced pilot or train one from the ground up.  As a civilian pilot, i haven't been around any LE agencies that cut new pilots loose with 150 hrs depsite the rhetoirc otherwise.  Not saying it doesn't happen but I havn't seen it.  The ones I have any knowledge of require significant time with an experienced pilot prior to be released as the sole pilot. The problem with civilian pilots is we are generally very transient (not all but I would say the majority).  Often times we go where the $$ is or bigger aircraft ($$).  The advantage for an LE agency with training their own is they retain those they train for a career due to pensions (which isn't what they sued to be).  Once a LE sworn guy gets some experience, whats the difference in a 1,500 hr or 3,000 hr sworn pilot v the same civilian pilot except a badge/gun?  There are good sworn pilots and bad sworn pilots and good civilian pilots and bad civilian pilots.  

Pardon my lack of vocabulary, but what is a "sworn pilot"?

is a flying cop

Sworn must be a code word they use to identify their job, but why? Even though they might be public use are the pilots not FAA certificated and either civilian or military trained? 

I swear that I've seen plenty of sworn pilots, learning stuck pedals at the factory school.

Does Charleston go cheap with training ?   Just wondering if they do recurrent, or if they save the training slots for the field grade staff who never really fly. 

It looks like Charleston bought it from Palm Beach, FL. Sheriff Dept.

Sworn generally doesnt have anything to do with aviation just whether the employee has a badge/gun.  In the LE aviation world, its not a "code word".  Its simply to identify if pilots have a badge/gun or not.  And yes LE sworn pilots are FAA certificated despite being public use.

Sworn means you are swearing your allegiance to something.  In this case a law enforcement  agency.  You are pledging that you promise to uphold certain codes of conduct and faithfulness for yourself and brothers in arms.  A trait that is becoming rare because of lack of willing participants in the newer generations.  Just sayin !    

They got that way watchng us. The good ones got screwed and the screw ups moved up.