Long Island Crash - Kite String?

Sla#s wrote:

There was a photo in Rotorbreeze years ago of a Bell 47 that got a kite
string wound round the mast. The pilot said he only just managed to get the
machine back down on the ground as the controls almost completely locked up.

How long is a piece of string.

I've been told to go fly a kite a few times but it's been a long long
time since I actually flew one.

BUT..... If you had a kite a few hundred feet in the air even with a
thin and light line it would have to have some tensile strength.

If it got caught up in a tail rotor how long would it take to wrap up
a couple of hundred feet of kite line.

Imagine the person on the ground having it pulled out of their hand and
then a few seconds later watching a helicopter coming down fast.

Imagine the two people in the helicopter spending the last few seconds
of their lives trying desperately to figure out what the hell's going
on.

Shiver Me Timbers wrote:

Sla#s wrote:


There was a photo in Rotorbreeze years ago of a Bell 47 that got a kite
string wound round the mast. The pilot said he only just managed to get the
machine back down on the ground as the controls almost completely locked up.


How long is a piece of string.

I've been told to go fly a kite a few times but it's been a long long
time since I actually flew one.

BUT..... If you had a kite a few hundred feet in the air even with a
thin and light line it would have to have some tensile strength.

That and it quickly gets wrapped around several times, effectively
multiplying it's strength.

I wonder if they gave he kite back to the owner (I don't think I would)?