ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 160473
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| Date: | Thursday 29 May 1980 |
| Time: | 13:00 |
| Type: |  Bell 206B JetRanger II |
| Owner/operator: | Transport Canada |
| Registration: | C-FDOB |
| MSN: | 491 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Cap Tourmente, QC -
 Canada
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Survey |
| Departure airport: | |
| Cap Tourmente, QC | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
The pilot landed the helicopter on a railway line, the skids resting across the rails, with the intention of disembarking a survey crew of 3 and to pick up a fourth member and transport him to another site. The pilot reduced torque but kept the rotor RPM at 100% with the tail rotor overhanging a steep rocky embankment. When the passengers disembarked the two rear seat passengers exited first followed by the left front seat passenger.
The helicopter was not positioned sufficiently forward on the rails relative to its centre of gravity and as each passenger disembarked the machine's C of G moved rearward. When the front seat passenger placed one foot on the ground, his leg inside the skid, the C of G moved aft of the rear rail, causing the tail of the craft to drop and the nose to move up and back. The passenger threw himself down and held on to the forward part of the skid as the pilot, unaware of the passenger's plight, attempted to recover by pulling the aircraft into a low hover. The pilot thought he was experiencing control problems as the craft had an apparent tendency to move forward towards the steep rocky hillside despite aft cyclic input. The pilot then started a right turn in an attempt to move back over the clear area to the rear. Meanwhile the passenger, still clinging to the forward part of the skid, was being dragged, bumped and pummelled. He finally let go of the skid and as he fell the rapid rearward movement of C of G caused the helicopter to nose up and move abruptly rearward. This occurred when the machine had partially completed its clockwise turn and when it had moved approximately 15 ft rearward the main rotor struck and fatally injured the passenger who had previously disembarked from the left rear seat. The tail rotor then struck the track and was destroyed. The helicopter, now completely out of control, contacted the hillside with its main rotor at a point 32 ft from the tracks and crashed. It came to rest on its side, with its engine still running, in a depression midway between the railway bed and the hillside. The unconscious pilot was rescued by the 3 survey crew members, one of whom returned to the cockpit and shut the engine down.
The pilot had not received any formal training on the proper techniques for landing on railroads nor were there adequate suitable helicopter landing sites in the immediate area. The pilot was also wearing ordinary sunglasses, not correctives glasses as stipulated on his licence.
Sources:
CASB file 80H00001
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 13-Sep-2013 17:53 | harro | Added |
| 13-Sep-2013 18:33 | harro | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Phase, Nature, Destination airport, Narrative] |
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