Spatial disorientation in night IMC during an air ambulance helicopter missed approach resulted in a fatal loss of control. The operator’s second night accident in less than three years in similar circumstances.
Air Ambulance A109S Spatial Disorientation in Night IMC Read Post »
Evidence is consistent with a practice autorotation being attempted to an ‘unsuitable’ Alaskan beach. Nr drooped, helicopter hit the sea, survivor found after a delayed emergency response. Airbus advises only ‘minimal crew’ for such training.
Alaskan AS350B3e Accident: Botched Autorotation Practice? Read Post »
The BEA look as production, maintenance fault-finding and flight operations lessons from a pair of incidents involving the AOA sensors on a Transavia Boeing 737-800.
AOA Anomalies on Successive B737-800 Flights Read Post »
Just because a company does the job one way for 30 years and has a 10k hour pilot doesn’t guarantee success. Techniques changed overnight after this accident. Once the tail rotor was catastrophically damaged, the consequences may have been reduced by the Bambi Bucket being a drag chute.
Short Sling Stings Speedy Squirrel: Tail Rotor Strike Fire-Fighting in Réunion Read Post »
Investigators identified chafing due to production errors but also highlight the first maintenance inspection was not scheduled until 36000 flying hours and there was poor guidance of when to use a fire axe to aid fire-fighting.
Embraer ERJ-190 EWIS Production Quality a Factor in Fire Read Post »
During a mountain take-off a HEMS crew are caught out by the poor contrast of rising snow-covered ground.
HEMS EC135T1 CFIT During Mountain Take Off in Poor Visibility Read Post »
A failed brazed stator assembly repair resulted in an uncontained turbine failure. The investigation identified apparent omissions in a DER produced repair scheme.
King Air 100 Uncontained TPE331-6 Failure – Inappropriate Repair Scheme Read Post »
An engine overdue for overhaul was refitted and 16 months later failed. The operator was not approved for passenger transport but the company was in financial distress so the pilot and part-owner accepted this charter.
An air ambulance in cruise at c 1,000 ft struck multiple geese, crashing with the loss of 3 lives. At dusk the bird strike risk in that area was ‘severe’ according to USAF modelling, available online as a planning tool.
Deadly Dusk Air Ambulance Bird Strike Read Post »
We question the wisdom of departing a bright, spot lit, landing site to fly over a remote area with little cultural light on a moonless night. We also look at how long it really takes for eyes to acclimatise to total darkness.
Tragic Texan B206B3 CFIT in Dark Night VMC Read Post »
BEA were unable to establish the reason for Loss of Control in the hover. The pilot was suffering from an unreported back condition and the HESLO technique required an awkward body position. BEA make recommendations about wellbeing and personal readiness.
Investigators point to missed opportunities to prevent accidents by collaboratively acting on past safety reports. “The aim should be to process the reports in a coordinated manner so that lessons could be learned…” including sharing between organisations.
An Uncoordinated Fall from an A320 at Helsinki: How Just Reporting is Not Enough Read Post »
We look how a defence contractor was killed during weapons training on a New Mexico range. We also critique the USAF AIB HFACS human factors analysis. A case of ‘What-You-Look-For-Is-What-You-Find’ (WYLFIWYF)?
Friendly Fire: Civilian Shot in the Head During USAF F-16 Training Read Post »
During a mountain rescue a Sécurité Civile EC145 was damaged by loose foliage being recirculated into the main rotor. Afterwards the crew hoist up 4 people and fly two short sectors back to base, exposing 6 people to heightened risk say BEA-E investigators.
Sécurité Civile EC145 Mountain Rescue Blade Strike Read Post »
The AAIB identify weaknesses in maintenance practices relating to flying control cables, an unrelated anomaly that has occurred on a number of Q400s and a weakness in how the Q400 FDR processes data that has been solved only for US operators.
Dash 8 Q400 Control Anomalies: 1 Worn Cable and 1 Mystery Read Post »
After a power loss, this air tour helicopter force landed on a beach. Everyone on board survived a 40 ft/s (12.2 m/s) impact, saved by helicopter design features, but the severity of some injuries may have been less if harnesses were correctly worn.
Hawaiian Air Tour EC130T2 Hard Landing after Power Loss (Part 2 – Survivability) Read Post »
The instructor, confident in his student’s ability, let an exercise proceed outside of RFM recommendations. The aircraft contacted the ground with a 6.1 m/s vertical velocity (20 ft/s).
Swedish SAR AW139 Damaged in Aborted Take-off Training Exercise Read Post »
The AAIB highlight safety lessons after an incident that occurred when an aircraft that had been in storage was being prepared for a ferry flight by personnel from 4 different organisations. This is topical at a time when many aircraft are entering and leaving storage due to COVID-19.
Runaway Dash 8 Q400 at Aberdeen after Miscommunication Over Chocks Read Post »
A confused response to an engine issue earlier in the day, a sudden power loss and a failed autorotation…but crashing into trees was decisive in the two occupants’ survival say NSIA.
Latent Engine Defect Downs R44: NR Dropped to Zero During Autorotation Read Post »
NTSB say that improper maintenance practices resulted in a lack of lubrication and excessive wear on an MLG uplock actuator.
Frozen Dash 8-100 Landing Gear After ‘Improper Maintenance Practices’ Say NTSB Read Post »
Failure to perform the Descent Check during the approach was a key factor for a loss of direction control after landing. This had “become a fairly common practice among crews”.
An offshore helicopter was caught on deck in a thunderstorm. A helideck lightning strike was suspected but the helicopter damage was not spotted until ashore.
Helideck Lightning Strike: Damage Missed Read Post »
The NTSB determined that this air ambulance helicopter accident, which killed 3, was due to a loss of control as a result of fatigue during cruise at night.
Fatal Fatigue: US Night Air Ambulance Helicopter LOC-I Accident Read Post »
BEA identify several contributory factors for a power line inspection crew’s failure to identify a crossing cable before a wire strike.
Crossing Cable Wirestrike Read Post »
A confined HEMS landing site, a backlit but identified low wire, a misdiagnosed routing and mitigating a FOD threat all added to the complexity in this landing.
Hanging on the Telephone… HEMS Wirestrike Read Post »
