We landed our Puma very early one cold wet morning at St Angelo for a task briefing. As we began to walk towards the guard post, the overnight Gazelle crew (green one) were about to start the rotors of their aircraft, about 50 metres away. The engine was already running and the observer was standing ahead of the cockpit, outside the rotor disc with the fire extinguisher, as per SOP.
As I got closer and the rotors began to turn I could hear shouting. It was the soldier in the guard tower, who appeared to be shouting at the Gazelle observer. He then turned and began shouting something to me. I looked at him and saw he was pointing at the Gazelle. I looked across and realised the aircraft didn’t look quite right (I used to instruct on the type). I then saw that the aircraft was still wearing a main rotor gearbox cover (a wraparound, waterproof fabric cover, held on by straps and metal buckles). The guard was trying to alert its crew.
All three of us began waving our arms to attract the attention of the crew, but they were oblivious and continued with the rotor start. As the rpm increased, the cover then began to remove itself, with its straps (complete with metal buckles), began flailing around under the rotor disc, one of the straps getting longer and longer….. I realised this wasn’t going to end well so I’m afraid I went into self preservation mode and ducked off to one side at the corner of the guard post wall. There was a sudden loud bang and a rattle as the cover came off, went up through the rotor disc and was flung in pieces off to the far side of the aircraft, thankfully without harming anyone. The pilot chopped the engine and shut down. He appeared shortly after, looking very dejected and asking to use the radio….
It was obvious that the crew were suffering from fatigue. They had diverted in to St Angelo the night before due to very poor weather (hence the MRGB cover having been fitted) and had been trying to sleep overnight in the cold, unheated guard post.