AS350 accident report

[Algy]

Sweden, last year, ice formed in engine while parked. (Maybe). (http://www.havkom.se/virtupload/news/rl2007_09es.pdf)

[FH1100 Pilot]

And so came to grief yet another pilot who believed he could "safely" fly at 130 feet and 50 knots downwind and then (unsuccessfully) tried the "hero maneuvre" to pull his butt out of the self-inflicted crack. Reminds me of the lyrics from the song, "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" (You guys and gals who are as old as me will remember; you younger ones can google it.)

When will we ever learn,
When will we evvvvvvvver learn?

[spencer17]

@FH1100 Pilot: It seems you never did this kind of work. It's quite usual that the site you have to work at is downwind from your take-off point. 2nd is that you have not much choices in regard to the landing site. Landing sites have to be accessible for big trucks, the helicopter etc. etc and landowners or forestry people don't like to cut trees to provide you with more then minimal space neccessary. Therefore you sometimes have to deal with tailwind conditions. Believe me I know what I'm talking about. I did this fertilizing job for about 8,000 hours.
The only you may blame the pilot for is maybe not checked the aircraft thoroughly enough or to fly in heavy snowing (icing) conditions. But personally I don't think so. These guy's up there in the north know what they are doing.

Always happy landings
Spencer17

[FH1100 Pilot]

Spencer, well yeah, we give more lattitude to those who operate in the Utility category because of the higher risk such tasks involve. At least he did not have passengers onboard.

The accident report did not say that he had anything hanging below the helicopter (e.i. on a hook) so I assumed it was a spray ship with booms? But he was over a partially-frozen lake. And 130 feet suggests that he was transiting from one place to another, not dispensing the product. Unless that's the altitude they use...which seems kind of high to me...

The thing about Utility flying is, I think, that it breeds complacency. We understand that the actual on-the-job flying may involve corners of the flight envelope in which one would ordinarily not wish to be. But I've seen plenty of Utility pilots who continue to fly that way even when they weren't actually performing their task. They just got used to flying that way and just did it all the time, I suppose. But it's still a helicopter, still subject to the applicable laws of physics and science as we all learned in flight school.

There are a couple of lessons from this accident, I would say.

[Helinut]

Spencer,
Presumably the last sentence in your post was engraved on his tombstone.
It can't really be OK if he ended up dead?

First goal of any flight is to be able to walk back into the office ......(acknowledgements to Sawn Coyle)

[Finnrotor.com]

@FH1100 Pilot: It seems you never did this kind of work. It's quite usual that the site you have to work at is downwind from your take-off point. 2nd is that you have not much choices in regard to the landing site. Landing sites have to be accessible for big trucks, the helicopter etc. etc and landowners or forestry people don't like to cut trees to provide you with more then minimal space neccessary. Therefore you sometimes have to deal with tailwind conditions. Believe me I know what I'm talking about. I did this fertilizing job for about 8,000 hours.
The only you may blame the pilot for is maybe not checked the aircraft thoroughly enough or to fly in heavy snowing (icing) conditions. But personally I don't think so. These guy's up there in the north know what they are doing.
Always happy landings
Spencer17

Couldn't agree more with what you said, Spencer.
FH-pilot; Without knowing the circumstances, the guy behind the stick and actually much anything about the job that he was doing, I (in your pans) would be a little more cautious with the comments. That "report" is a much shortened version of the actual report written in swedish.
The comments like "when will we ever learn" are complete bulls**t. The guy in question did fantastic job to walk away basically unhurt from a VERY difficult situation.


I assumed it was a spray ship with booms?

It was not.

[before landing check list]

I am looking in all sorts of dictionaries and I do not see a "hero maneuver". After reading the report all he may be guilty of is lack of a thorough preflight. Apparently he did a good job on the auto since he lived. Maybe it is a little early to start throwing spears eh?

Jerry