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Czech businessman Petr Kellner died on March 27, 2021 in a helicopter accident in the mountains of Alaska | Photo: Salim Issa | Source: Alaska State Troopers via National Transportation Safety Board, iRozhlas.cz collage
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“I’ve been through it all. Every second I tried to do something, but I was wedged in,” described former professional snowboarder David Horváth in the Czech TV program 13. Komnata. In 2021, he was the only survivor of a helicopter crash in which billionaire Petr Kellner was also sitting.
Anchorage/Praha
16:06 September 26, 2024 Share on Facebook
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“The worst part is that I lost my friends. We have been to Alaska together several times. And due to hitting some rock and falling several meters down, we all gradually died… Except me,” he said in the show David Horváth.
According to the final report of the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States of America, the helicopter crashed probably due to poor maneuvering of the pilot Zachary Russell. According to his professional file, he never even completed a helicopter ridge landing exercise.
‘Kellner was in shock, he walked ten meters away from me’. The sole survivor described the helicopter crash
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It also lacked a one-year review for flights with adverse meteorological conditions in instrument flight. “Due to deficiencies in the operator’s pilot training program and examinations, it is likely that the pilot did not meet the qualification standards to be the pilot-in-chief of the crashed flight,” the investigators concluded in the final report.
Some crew members were still alive after the impact. “I was wedged there, all broken, open wounds inside and I don’t know what I had inside me. But I’ve seen it all. Petr was still alive, he was walking around there, talking with me. From below, a friend tapped me with his ring finger that he was trapped under a helicopter,” Horváth recalled.
Pilot error, bad training, instructor under the influence of cocaine. Investigators shed light on Kellner’s accident
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The entire rescue operation was delayed due to the misinformation that the helicopter was seen back at the resort. The off-piste heliskiing company activated the emergency plan an hour and a half later than their internal regulations dictate.
It was only after more than three hours after the incident that the rescue services received the coordinates of where the downed helicopter was supposed to be.
“I had a small walkie-talkie, so I was always trying to catch someone, just in case someone was flying by,” describes the former snowboarder. However, the rescuers did not reach the wreckage of the helicopter until six hours after the accident.
We are not going to die on this mountain today, Kellner said after the helicopter crash. He was still alive two hours after the accident
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“I was conscious for six hours. I was constantly trying to do anything. To turn, which I couldn’t do at first, to pull out my hand, but it’s hard to pull out your hand when you have nowhere to move. I felt that my left hand was getting quite frozen, so I kept hiding it somewhere, breathing into my hands,” Horváth says.
The seriously injured Horváth was taken by paramedics to a hospital in Anchorage, where he ended up spending three weeks. He got back to the Czech Republic thanks to Renata Kellnerová, the widow of the deceased billionaire. Due to fourth-degree frostbite, doctors eventually had to amputate all the fingers on Horváth’s left hand and some fingers on his right.
“It looks like I’m always laughing, but even now, when I talk about it, I’m crying inside. But when it’s fun, everything is fine. Well, I have slightly shorter fingers, so I won’t go crazy about it,” he added.
Helicopter accident with Petr Kellner
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March 27, 2021 – 14:50 Helicopter landing
Soloy Helicopters helicopter lands at Tordrillo Mountain Lodge. Pilot Zachary Russell picks up a crew of five consisting of: Petr Kellner, David Horváth, snowboarding coach Benjamin Larochaix, and mountain guides Gregory Harms and Sean McManamy.
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March 27, 2021 – 3:43 p.m. Departure
The captain of the machine lifts the plane off the ground and heads towards Alaska’s Knik Glacier. Survivor David Horváth noted that the weather was nice but spooky at the time. Therefore, their departure from the residence was also delayed.
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March 27, 2021 – 16:02 In the mountains
Roughly twenty minutes into the flight, the whole group is above the snowy mountains, where the temperature was around -17 degrees Celsius.
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March 27, 2021 – 16:12 – 18:07 Jumps from a helicopter
The group, led by instructors, jumped off the helicopter several times and skied in open terrain. According to Horváth, everything was problem-free.
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March 27, 2021 – 18:33 Last up
Pilot Russel last climbed to a height of about 1910 meters above sea level and maneuvered over the ridge of the mountain. According to available data, it was about four meters above the ground at a speed of about 1.85 kilometers per hour.
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March 27, 2021 – 18:35 Snow fog
The captain of the plane tried to land a second time on the ridge so that the skiers could jump out of the helicopter. As he approached the terrain, however, a cloud of snow rose and created the so-called white darkness. It is not clear at the time what the pilot’s course of action was. According to Horváth, Kellner should have shouted at him not to do it. The helicopter crashes into a mountain, ending the data trail recording.
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March 27, 2021 – 19:15 No news
The helicopter controller reports to his superior that he last saw the machine move 40 minutes ago. His boss contacted other heliskiing companies in the area to have their pilots keep an eye out for the helicopter.
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March 27, 2021 – 8:04 pm Incorrect information
The pilots of one of the helicopters thought they spotted the missing helicopter returning to the resort. They gave such information to the dispatcher. This message later proved to be erroneous and delayed the rescue operation.
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March 27, 2021 – 20:26 Informing the operator
The dispatcher of the heliskiing company, which had, to put it simply, a helicopter with a pilot on rent, contacted the aircraft operator that the pilot with the machine had not yet returned from the mountains.
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March 27, 2021 – 20:30 Emergency plan activation
The heliskiing company has activated an emergency plan. This happened an hour and a half later than the internal regulations required.
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March 27, 2021 – 9:10 p.m. Informing rescue teams
The helicopter operator informed the rescue coordination center that the aircraft was delayed and they had no news about it.
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27 . March 2021 – 21:36 Debris of a helicopter
Pilots from another airline discovered the wreckage of the helicopter in a valley below the mountain.
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March 27, 2021 – 10:02 p.m. Coordinates of the wreck
The rescuers received the exact coordinates from the airline where the wreckage of the helicopter with the crew should be located.
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March 27, 2021 – 10:58 p.m. Rescuers ready
A group of rescuers is ready to fly to the site of the crashed helicopter.
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27 March 2021 – 23:25 Helicopter on site
A rescue helicopter arrived at the scene and located the wreckage of the machine. However, he had to get rid of the excess fuel before descending, which took about half an hour to drain. Subsequently, two paramedics rushed to the scene of the accident.
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March 27, 2021 – 00:15 Rescuers at the wreckage
The rescuers finally reached the crashed helicopter in difficult terrain. At the scene, they found five dead people and one in a very serious condition.
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March 27, 2021 – 01:15 Transport to hospital
The rescue plane transports the seriously injured David Horváth to the hospital. The rescuers have to leave the bodies of other deceased people there until the next day due to bad weather.
Helicopter crash with Petr Kellner
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