BSO Fire Rescue chopper crashes in Pompano Beach (local10.com)

That video is tough to watch

Looks like the left engine was on fire. 

put it down anywhere

You think they had time Einstein .... 

I think he had time since I saw him flying while on fire.

Back to your R44 young fellow 

You are a jerk...

PLEASE NO SNIDE REMARKS PROBABLY 3 SOULS LOST.

said they all lived

land IMMEDIATELY. Link below shows straight and level until the tail melts off.

https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1696155229522100620?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

At 8:44AM, it shows them trying to return to the airport to me. 

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N109BC/history/20230828/1242Z/KPMP/KPMP

not like they had any choice where they were going at that point

probably not the best to land on somebody's roof either.

landing on a house works just fine

you could probably fill in just fine 

https://www.facebook.com/reel/836692974656473?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&mibextid=3uyXbM

It appeared that the heat from the #2 engine fire compromised the tail boom. I wonder if they tried to shut it down, or how long it took to get to that point.

There's a reason why engine fires or fire in flight is a land immediately, not possible. That tail boom is made of fiberglass, and it does burn....

That mx dept. ought to start burning its logbooks. Likely prior mx just done to blame. You read it here first. 

Track data shows they had just departed KPMP and turned back about 1.5 miles out.  Track terminates about a half mile from the runway threshold.

Does the EC-135 have a bunch of plastic parts?

aluminum is not going to hold up long with a 1000+ degree fire blowing on it

Had to have had some indications in the cockpit that something was not right.  He sure flew over enough foraced landing areas before he ended up in the one he did. 

Flight lasted only 3 min.  

https://twitter.com/ChaseTheWX/status/1696184662773616915?t=R4C8FiM25YV-3YVkGTnOmg&s=01

Must see this miracle!!!!

You're a half mile from an airport over a densely populated area of which you just departed.  Not sure what or when the initial indications were, but for the three minutes total, that open airfield might have appeared better than a roof top or power pole laden road.  

Because the t-boom folding up was probably the last idea going thru their thoughts of "what's the worst that could happen?"

Is there a fire warning system on a ec135? 

in the engine bay...

you get one in the back where all the pelican rack and avionics $#!t is......

smoke in the cockpit will be your only warning....that and blank screens.

Okay thanks for the reply

https://twitter.com/livingbyyyz/status/1696192376140615872

he probably realized he was on fire. This is where the turn back to the airport started.

There's a reason why engine fires or fire in flight is a land immediately, not possible. That tail boom is made of fiberglass, and it does burn....

That mx dept. ought to start burning its logbooks. Likely prior mx just done to blame. You read it here first. 

There's a reason why engine fires or fire in flight is a land immediately, not possible. That tail boom is made of fiberglass, and it does burn....

That mx dept. ought to start burning its logbooks. Likely prior mx just done to blame. You read it here first. 

RIP

There's always a place to land when you're on fire.

The question is, when did he realize he was on fire?

not until he hit that roof

Something round and flaming with black smoke trail was ejected on the first spin.  You can see it depart the airframe or out a window.....had to be plastic in nature or something similar.  That thing was onfire and falling like a lit gas can someone kicked out of a campfire.

You all can say "I'd have done this" or "I'd have done that" but that did not look survivable.  I guarantee you that the pilot was not thinking about the tail boom separating.  The fact that the tail didn't go into the rotor system and he flew it to impact AND had the talent and intuition about when to pull pitch, to cushion what he could, says a lot about his piloting ability. 

Now he gets to be tormented with not being able to help the other crewmember out of the aircraft.  Not that he saved the life of another but that he wasn't able to save them all.

I understand a lot of you come on here to troll and armchair quarterback but I want you to look at the pilot sitting next to you (or in the mirror) and ask yourself if you think you (prior to this video) would have thought about that tail coming off and if you think you have the skill to pull that off?

"I guarantee you that the pilot was not thinking about the tail boom separating."

     Anyone who sees the crash video and encounters their own engine fire will be thinking about the tail boom separating.

But you're right, trying to make it back to the airport, that pilot wasn't thinking about the tail boom separating.

NTSB.   Pilot failed to follow proper procedure in accordance with the RFM. 

I've looked at several different videos of this one and it doesn't look like the fire is in the engine compartment. You EC-135 guys will have to educate me on what is in the compartment below the exhaust stacks, besides the tail boom attachment hardware, but whatever it is it needs ventilation. There are two screens on the left side, and you see the fire through the larger and aft most screen. I was a Bell medium type and, on the Huey/205 that is where the oil cooler is located.

Could an engine fire burn through the deck and into that compartment that quickly? The flight was around 3 minutes from takeoff to impact. Looking at the radar trace it looks like a pretty lazy turn back to the airport, and the pilot said he was returning to company parking, so it sounds like he'd delt with an earlier problem and was taking it back home. Did he even know there was a worse problem still ongoing?

Firewalls should have contained a fire of such short duration.

My opinion, NICAD thermal runaway.

Battery is on right side of the aircraft.  Of course we can't see what the right side looks like...

Saw a news reel where flames were coming out the R/H aft compartment too

Potential failure of turbine wheel/blades.  Enough to cause fire out the exhaust without setting off fire detection, debris strikes tailcone causing structural failure.  

Who knows?  Hopefully, enough was left of the engine to narrow down a cause.

It appears that manufacture of helicopter has more engine fires than Bell does.  Rest in piece.