During an interview, the pilot reported that the helicopter was dispatched to transport a patient from the scene of an automobile accident. During initial climb, west of Pompano Beach Airpark (PMP), Pompano Beach, Florida, about 300 to 400 ft above ground level, the pilot heard a “bang” from the rear of the helicopter and noticed that the turbine outlet temperature (TOT) was rising on the No. 1 engine. He set the No.1 engine throttle to idle, declared an emergency to air traffic control, and reversed direction to return to the airport. He scanned the cockpit instrument panel and noticed that the No.1 engine fire button had illuminated. He pressed the button to activate the fire suppression system; however, the TOT continued to rise on the No. 1 engine. The pilot subsequently heard a second “bang,” and was unable to control the helicopter. It spun and descended into an apartment building.
Taken from the Preliminary Report posted earlier by someone.
The interview closely followed the Pilot being involved in a horrific event that resulted in two people being killed as a result of a violent and tragic experience.
A quick visit to Google Earth and using their measuring stick it appears the aircraft at most was one and a half statute miles (or there about ) from the approach end of Runway 06 which he was trying to return to for an emergency landing.
For sure he was a very busy fellow coping with the situation he was confronted with and I view his quoted statement as being something that will be amended in due time as the investigation progresses and he has a better recollection of events than he probably did at the time of the interview.
I find it quite understandable why he would have elected to return to the airfield as by the time the true extent of the problem was determined......the airfield was close in front of the aircraft and probably only about minute or less away.
One of the things we have to wait for is for the Investigation to determine the sequence of actions that were taken and what effect they could have had on the outcome and whether fire damage prevented then from working as designed.
If we look back to the Louisiana accident where the 139 had the electrical fire that badly interfered with the flight controls of that aircraft we might also see that unanticipated damage can occur due to a fire......such as the tailbone failing in flight,.
All emergencies do not fall nicely into a printed checklist and not all emergencies are in a checklist.
The question that arises is what do you do when the checklist and symptoms do not agree?
Wires melt, electronics fail to work, odd things happen.
Basic actions set forth in checklists are there for guidance but you have to consider that they might not be effective for some reason.
Until the cause of the fire, its location, and extent of damage to the aircraf systems and structure, it shall be impossible to know what the situation really was at the time.