Another B407 accident

[Dynamic Component]

Heard of a 407 accident in South Africa recently.First of all,my sincere condolences to the families of the deceased.
Apparantly all six lives onboard were lost.

Does anyone know more about this??

[turboshaft]

News over the weekend was that the crash involved an NAC 407, flying in IMC conditions. A tragic loss of life.

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From www.news24.com (http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1370998,00.html)

Six die in chopper crash
News24.com 6/8

An executive of cellphone company Cell C and four other employees died when a helicopter crashed into a mountain near Graskop on Sunday. Cell C's chair and CEO, Talaat Laham, said the helicopter crash, in which the pilot also died, was a "tremendous shock".

The Bell 407, belonging to the National Aircraft Corporation, was one of three taking Cell C staffers back to Johannesburg after a work session at Earthlodge, near Sabie Sabie. Initial investigations suggest there were no mechanical problems with the chopper. Thick mist could have played a role in the tragedy.

Ri'tte van Niekerk who works at the Panorama holiday resort near which the accident happened, says she heard a loud bang. "When we saw two helicopters appear, we thought the one was experiencing problems. We only heard about the crash later in the day." Graskop resident Elsa Viljoen said thick mist could set in over the area in 15 minutes, reducing visibility to three metres.

NAC's Graeme Conlyn says the accident happened in a very remote area and it took them about five hours to find the wreckage. Police, members of the SA mountaineering club and an Air Force Oryx helicopter only managed to reach the scene of the accident by late afternoon.

The names of the victims have, as yet, not been released.


t/shaft

[B Sousa]

Its posted on the African Aviation Forum. Appears to be one of those accidents located where the Mist meets Terra Firma

[Shawn Coyle]

And unless someone has done something in this area since I left Transport Canada, the aircraft was not cleared for IMC - no autopilot.

[SASless]

Shawn....the absence of an autopilot probably had little to do with the mountain being in the way.

[B Sousa]

You can read the thread on African Aviation, but as SASless mentions IFR Aircraft would not have helped. It was a VFR flight in an area that frequently goes IFR with High Humidity........Just seems based on those involved (VIP Passengers) that a good case of Get-Home-itis may have played a large role.

[Tokoloshe]

The 407 in question crashed approx 11 o'clock in the morning in a narrow gorge adjacent to the town of Graskop. The weather is prone to rapid orographic development, however on the morning in question the 3 helicopters landed further down the slope to wait for the weather to clear. Seems like there was some low-level mist along the ridge.
The helicopter that crashed was number 2 in the formation when they got airborne again.
When we eventually arrived on the scene around 3pm the sky was clear and we (a civilian helicopter) located the wreck at about 3:30. It was more luck than anything else as most of the gorge was in deep shadows and the only sign was a few broken branches.
The police and airforce removed 5 bodies on the Sunday and the last one on Monday.
Wednesday we slung the remains of the wreck out of the gorge with another 407 and it was then transported to JHb.
From my own assessment it looked like the aircraft hit the slope with a high nose attitude as the entire cabin was destroyed, however the topdeck including all the hydraulic actuators, gearbox, engine and tailboom was intact. The ECU was also intact which will hopefully give some more information to the investigators.
I have flown helicopters in this area for the last ten years and it is the first fatality on a sightseeing trip that I can remember.
All three pilots that day were from Joburg and were perhaps not as situationally aware as they could have been especially if the weather was bad. There are lots of un-marked power lines in this area which will catch the unwary.
Lastly, my condolences to all the families concerned. It was a terrible tragedy.
I knew all the pilots concerned in this incident as well as the pilot in the fixed-wing crash that occurred the same day at about the same time.
:\ :\ :\
I have a few photos of the gorge for those that still think it could never happen to them......:confused:

[Dynamic Component]

Tokoloshe,

Thanks for the info. I Know the pilot that was involved in the accident and I'm sure he will be missed.

If you do get more info,please let me know?