King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

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fountainhall

King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

Post by fountainhall »

King Power billionaire, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, made headlines some years ago when he purchased the underperforming English soccer side, Leicester City. He then became a local hero when that side went on to win the English Premier Division title two years ago, beating the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City. Anyone who had placed a bet on that happening at the start of the season would have got odds of 5000/1.

It was Khun Vichai’s habit to arrive at the ground about an hour before kick-off having flown in his personal helicopter from London. He would then leave the ground about an hour after the match, again boarding the helicopter with his guests in the middle of the pitch.

Yesterday something went disastrously wrong. As the helicopter was passing over the stadium it started to rotate violently. Some observers claim the tail rotor stopped working. The helicopter then crashed in flames in the car park.

It is not known yet if Khun Vichai was aboard but it is assumed so, given that his family have not made any announcement that he left the ground by any other means.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lei ... e-46006470
Jun

Re: King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

Post by Jun »

Helicopters seem to be a high risk way to travel to matches.

The vice chairman of Chelsea FC also died in a helicopter accident a few years ago on the way back from a football match.
fountainhall

Re: King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

Post by fountainhall »

On the rumour section of the professional pilots website pprune.org, one pilot suggests that as the helicopter was ascending and moving forward, there is a possibility the tail might have hit one of the light towers common in most soccer stadia. This would have rendered it useless. At such a low altitude, a crash would be inevitable. Apparently a pool of pilots was used to captain that helicopter, not the same two for every match. It was capable of accommodating up to 20 passengers. Not known yet how many were on board.
Jun

Re: King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

Post by Jun »

fountainhall wrote:On the rumour section of the professional pilots website pprune.org
Clearly idiotic and totally uninformed speculation also takes place on professional forums.

Lighting towers are obsolete. An old fashioned UK stadium might have 4 large lighting towers at the corners of the stadium. All the modern stadiums have the lights fixed to the top of the stands, all the way down the sides of the pitch. Leicester's stadium is one of the new generation type. Even most of the older stadiums now have the new style lighting.

I'm surprised they post something that is so easily refuted with evidence. Even the rumours posted on the various gay Thai forums stand cannot usually be so quickly disproven.
fountainhall

Re: King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

Post by fountainhall »

I have no idea what the layout of that ground is like - and the section of pprune.org I quoted makes it clear it is a rumour section. I have not been to a UK soccer stadium in decades but I do watch occasionally on television. At least some other grounds clearly do still have lighting towers if only because I believe the height of the stands is too low, eg. Portsmouth, Blackburn, Luton and Ipswich being just four.
Jun

Re: King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

Post by Jun »

I'm not knocking you, but whoever wrote the rumour could have spent at least the 2 minutes required to check the ground layout.

The vast majority of Premier League grounds do not have floodlight towers & as far as I know, none of the new top level stadiums have them.
The new Leicester stadium definitely does not have them.

They will of course be more common in the lower leagues, particularly in scruffy grounds like the one at Luton which has not seen any significant development in decades.
gerefan
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Re: King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

Post by gerefan »

Also very unfortunate that the very same day the boys form the Cave were at Manchester United watching a match.
It was sad to see them on TV today at the "shrine", outside Leicester City ground, paying their respects.

The trouble with pprune is that anyone can become a member and post their ignorant opinions, especially after an accident. It is certainly not restricted to Professionals which is a shame.
Ive even read reports that the tail rotor stopped. How can anyone be expected to see that at 8.30 pm in the pitch dark?
If the helicopter hit anything on departure you can be sure the damage to the stadium would be all over the TV by now!
Be wary of anything you read on prrune especially after an accident!
fountainhall

Re: King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

Post by fountainhall »

Jun wrote:I'm not knocking you, but whoever wrote the rumour could have spent at least the 2 minutes required to check the ground layout
You make a very fair point and I did not make a good job in attempting to defend the suggestion.
Jun

Re: King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

Post by Jun »

fountainhall wrote:You make a very fair point and I did not make a good job in attempting to defend the suggestion.
Well it's nice to discuss matters with people like yourself who can see another point of view & behave with good grace.
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Captain Kirk
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Re: King Power Billionaire Assumed Dead in a Helipcopter Crash

Post by Captain Kirk »

gerefan wrote:The trouble with pprune is that anyone can become a member and post their ignorant opinions
Sort of applies to any and every online forum.
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