Dick, I started a list back in 2013 when I was considering starting a hoist program.
These are all of the ones I knew of as of 2013. I think there have been a few since....
I recall one earlier this year where a boat captain being hoisted broke is leg when the helicopter set him down abruptly in rough seas.
August 31, 2013 - The ATSB is investigating the 31 August2013 accident where a person fell from a winch harness and died while beingwinched on board an Air Ambulance Victoria helicopter near Lake Eildon,Victoria.
July 22, 2013 - On July 22,2013, about 2220 Pacific daylight time (PDT), a rescue officer fell from a BellHH-1H, N233JP, during a rescue hoist operation near Mount Charleston, Nevada.Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department operated the helicopter as apublic-use search and rescue operation under the provisions of 14 Code ofFederal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The flight crew consisted of two commercialpilots and three crewmen, a crew chief, a hoist operator, and a rescue officer.The rescue officer was fatally injured, the rescued passenger and fourcrewmembers were uninjured; the helicopter sustained no damage. The localpublic-use flight departed North Las Vegas, Nevada, about 2150. Night visualmeteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.Theoperator reported that during a night time rescue operation, while hoisting acivilian hiker and a rescue officer off the side of a mountain, the rescueofficer fell to his death. The civilian hiker was recovered to the helicopterby use of the helicopter hoist without injury. Subsequent investigations have revealed no equipment malfunctions.
March 3, 2013 A SaudiCivil Defence rescue officer has died after he fell from a helicopter duringthe celebration of the World Civil Defence Day in the capital Riyadh. Reportssaid that First Class Pvt Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Al Qah’tani was not able tosurvive the severe injuries and fractures he suffered when he fell on Saturdaymorning in the parking lot of Gharnata Mall.
December 25, 2011 A paramedic has been killed while trying towinch an injured canyoner to safety at Carrington Falls near Wollongong in NSW.It isunderstood that with the injured canyoner strapped to him, Mr Wilson steppedoff a cliff and swung into the ravine so the pair could be winched up into thehelicopter. But they crashed into acliff face opposite and Mr Wilson was pinned between his patient and therock wall. Both men had to be lowered to the ravine floor, police said, wherethe helicopter team was forced to cut the winch line. It is understood that wasdone because Mr Wilson was unable to free himself from the wire. He died soonafter from internal injuries.
November9, 2009 - The Australian TransportSafety Bureau released a final investigative report regarding the November 9,2009 hoisting accident. This accident seriously injured two crew members, whenthe hoist cable failed and they fell approximately 50 ft (16 m) ontodeck of the ship. The event occurred when a Bell 412 operated by Torres StraitAmbulance rendezvoused with a container ship (Maersk Duffield) to evacuate anill crew member.
July 21, 2009 - The purpose of the flight was toconduct proficiency rappel training. During a preflight equipment check, one ofthe rappellers identified a broken "Kong" clip on the Tri-link/J-hookinterface on the harness. He replaced the Kong clip with a rubber O-ring (anauthorized substitution) and then he returned to the helicopter. Minutes later,with the helicopter in a stabilized hover, witnesses on the ground reportedthat they observed the rappeller transition from inside the helicopter to theport side skid, then fall down the rope at excessive speed. Postaccidentexamination of the rope and harness assembly revealed that the rappeller'sJ-hook was attached to the Sky Genie and rope; however, the J-hook was notattached to the Tri-link and harness. A broken O-ring, believed to be theO-ring used to center the Tri-link and J-hook, was found on the groundapproximately 30 feet from where the harness assembly was located. Evidenceobtained during the investigation suggests that the rappeller's Tri-link andJ-hook were not mechanically linked (prior to the rappeller transitioning tothe skid), but rather inadvertently linked together with a non load-bearingO-ring used to center the latching devices. Examination of the J-hook, SkyGenie, Tri-link and harness by investigators from the US Forest Servicerevealed no evidence of malfunction or defect.
The National Transportation SafetyBoard determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The rappeller'sfailure to properly latch the rappelling harness to the rappelling assemblybefore exiting the helicopter.
Sept 4, 2008 - A helicopter crash that killed a four-member US CoastGuard aircrew last year was caused when a tangled rescue hoist snappedand damaged the rotor blades, according to a report released Friday.The aircrewmanaged to right the helicopter but did not realize that the helicopter was toodamaged to return to land the night of Sept. 4, 2008, according toinvestigators.The Dolphin HH-65 crashed into the Pacific Ocean six miles southof Honolulu International Airport. The service members killed that night wereCmdr. Thomas Nelson, Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Wischmeier, Aviation Survival Technician1st Class David Skimin and Aviation Maintenance Technician 1st Class JoshuaNichols. Nelson, the pilot, was the executive officer at Coast Guard AirStation Barbers Point.
February 10, 2005,an MD-902 helicopter crashed while conducting hoist operations on a containership off Shanghai, China. Three occupants were fatally injured, the pilotsustained serious injuries.
January 10, 2005,about 1312 UTC, a Sikorsky S76C, JA6903, operated by the Japan Coast Guard on atraining mission, experienced a loss ofengine power while hovering over a ship located 28 nautical miles westsouthwest of Niigata Airport (RJSN). The helicopter collided with the shipbefore hitting the water and sinking. The meteorological conditions at the timeare unknown. The helicopter was destroyed and the two pilots, and two of the fourcrewmembers were not injured. The other two crewmembers received serious andminor injuries. It was reported that the helicopter was hovering about 80 feetabove a Coast Guard ship, lowering a hoist cable to pick up a rescuer and adummy from the ship deck when the number 1 engine experienced a loss of power.The hoist cable was cut by a crew member and the pilot tried to maneuver thehelicopter away from the ship. During the descending and evasive maneuver, thehelicopter collided with the bow of the ship with its tail section. The pilotwas unable to deploy the helicopter's emergency floats as it landed in thewater and rolled to the right side and capsized, subsequently sinking.