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Oh man, this is a sad day. Thoughts and prayers to the family. McRae was an awesome ambassador for Rally. 
I’d have to agree with that statement :word:
Damn that’s terrible :(:(
:tdown:
I didn’t hear about it until sunday morning, was hoping rob was lieing to me.
now we’re stuck with travis pastrana forever for our rally video games !
He was a name many people who never even heard of rallies on this side of the pond recognized.
RIP.
ahh crap, didnt see this post.
Got this from another forum, how is this for some crazy shit?
Autoweek is reporting that the CEO of Prodrive escaped a helicopter crash :
In an incredible coincidence, Prodrive boss Dave Richards and his wife, Karen, have survived a helicopter crash just 24 hours after the accident which claimed the life of his former driver, Colin McRae.
Richards, who mentored McRae to his World Rally Championship in 1995, was returning home from the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps late on Sunday afternoon when his helicopter suffered a mechanical problem and crashed into a field near the historic North Weald Airfield in Essex in south-east England.
The Prodrive CEO was piloting the helicopter when it crash landed, then tipped on to its side. Both Richards and his wife walked away from the crash and were treated at the scene for shock.
Earlier in the day, Richards had lead the chorus of praise for McRae, who died along with his son, Johnny and two of their friends when his own helicopter crashed within 300 yards of his mansion in Scotland on Saturday, insisting the Scot was: ‘The most competitive person I ever met. He believed he could do anything.’
Prodrive runs Subaru’s World Rally Championship operation, developed the FIA GT sports car operation for Aston Martin, operates the Prodrive V8 Supercar team in Australia and plans to enter the Formula One World Championship in 2008. Richards also recently lead the consortium which bought Aston Martin from Ford.
A superb and vastly experienced helicopter pilot, Richards has won national helicopter competitions in England for precision flying, including picking up buckets of water on the landing runners.
North Weald Airfield
North Weald Airfield has had its share of crippled aircraft struggling to make emergency landings. It was built in 1916 to protect London in World War I, then became famous as a World War II Battle of Britain base for Spitfire and Hurricane fighters. When Allied aircraft performed their famous Victory flypast over London to celebrate VE day, they took off from North Weald. It was also used as the airbase in the Battle of Britain movie, and for the D-Day take-off scenes in Steven Spielberg’s Band of Brothers mini-series.
seriously did the air in england become super dense all of a sudden?
especially people that can put subaru back in the running in the wrc…
+1
When the engine dies on a plane, it becomes a glider.
When the engine dies on a helicopter, it becomes a rock.
When you are wealthy and have your own small aircraft (or even rent), the odds are stacked against you.
Think of all the famous/wealthy people that have crashed in small aircraft.
RIP to a fellow Scot.
That is crazy, and odd timing on the second one.
Incorrect. If a helo is up high enough, the pilot can “feather” the main rotor, allowing the wind-resistance to spin the blades as it loses altitude. It effectively makes it a parachute as it decends. The process is called “autorotating”.
It does not give 100% control, and it can still come down pretty hard, but it makes it survivable in many cases.
The problem with autorotation is that if you don’t have a nice wide open area underneath you, then that lack of control can put you into buildings, trees, etc. I’ve actually seen it done with R/C helicopters, and it is impressive when done right. But again, that is under ideal conditions with a large open area to land in.
i have been in a helo during auto rotation, it takes skill. and on a smalll helo, i do not think i would effect the out come.
I’ve been flying RC copters for years, and know a guy who flys the real things. While autorotation could save you, it’s pretty unlikely, especially in the low altitude conditions most small choppers fly. He said it best when I was explaining the trouble I was having switching from RC planes to RC helicopters when he said “planes naturally want to fly, helicopters naturally want to crash”. A heli is in a constant state of fighting, both gravity with the main rotor, and it’s own instability with the tail rotor, just to stay in one place.
Almost every plane will glide though, and the controls remain the same as during powered flight. Keep speed up above the stall threshold and hope you can find something relatively flat to land on.
Anyway, back on topic. RIP to the 4 of them.