ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 180752
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| Date: | Friday 30 October 2015 |
| Time: | 08:00 |
| Type: |  AgustaWestland AW609 |
| Owner/operator: | AgustaWestland |
| Registration: | N609AG |
| MSN: | 60002 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2006 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Santhià, Vercelli -
 Italy
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | Cascina Costa |
| Cascina Costa | |
| Investigating agency: | ANSV |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
AW609 twin-engined tiltrotor prototype number 2 crashed and burst into flames near Santhià, Italy during high speed trials. Both occupants, one Italian and one US test pilot, died in the crash.
Flightradar24 tracking data shows N609AG operating in the area of Santhià at the time of the accident. Last recorded data by Flightradar24 show the aircraft at 4349 feet at 09:43 hours UTC.
ANSV says the crew commenced the third high speed dive with a 180° left turn, aiming for a speed of 293 knots. On roll-out they observed “slight lateral-direction oscillations”. The crew believed they were “self-damping”. The Pilot Flying attempted to correct the roll with “counterphase input roll manoeuvres and then pedal inputs” as they grew in amplitude and frequency. "However these actions did not dampen the oscillations, which instead became divergent, bringing the sideslip angle to reach values above the maximum allowed in those speed conditions". The flight control laws had the unintended effect of amplifying the oscillations and the sideslip reached 10.5° (6.5° greater than the limit) in just a few seconds. The investigators have “reasonable certainty” that the in-flight break-up was caused by “multiple contacts of the proprotors with the aircraft wings”, says ANSV. This, in turn, severed fuel and hydraulic lines in the leading edge of the wings, triggering a fire.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
http://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/10/30/news/elicottero_esplode_in_volo_nel_vercellese_e_un_mezzo_militare_-126222286/?ref=HREC1-1
https://www.flightradar24.com//data/airplanes/n609ag#7d79042
https://www.avionews.com/index.php?
http://www.agustawestland.com/-/finmeccanica-agustawestland-statement
http://www.helipress.it/schede-1475-agustawestland_aw609_precipita_a_vercelli_2_morti
http://www.varesenews.it/2015/10/addio-a-due-piloti-di-grande-esperienza/413791/
http://www.ansv.it/It/Detail_relazioni.asp?ID=1970
http://aec-analisiecalcolo.it/static/media/uploads/2014/11/15/AW609_7.jpg
http://www.rotorandwing.com/topstories/86750.html_
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/heli-expo-finmeccanica-confident-on-cause-of-aw609-422670/
http://aerossurance.com/news/ansv-aw609-accident-update/
http://www.ansv.it/cgi-bin/ita/AW609%20N609AG%20interim%20statement%20and%20safety%20recommendations.pdf
http://www.ansv.it/cgi-bin/ita/Final%20Report%20N609AG.pdf
Images:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 30-Oct-2015 11:34 | gerard57 | Added |
| 30-Oct-2015 11:41 | harro | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 30-Oct-2015 11:43 | harro | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 30-Oct-2015 11:57 | harro | Updated [Registration, Cn, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 30-Oct-2015 11:58 | harro | Updated [Cn] |
| 30-Oct-2015 13:03 | MKAP | Updated [Source] |
| 30-Oct-2015 13:03 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Photo, ] |
| 30-Oct-2015 13:25 | Anon. | Updated [Source] |
| 30-Oct-2015 13:31 | aegir | Updated [Time, Departure airport, Source] |
| 30-Oct-2015 13:45 | rotorspot | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 30-Oct-2015 16:58 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Embed code] |
| 30-Oct-2015 17:20 | Anon. | Updated [Source] |
| 30-Oct-2015 17:56 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 30-Dec-2015 16:13 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 05-Mar-2016 10:22 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source] |
| 24-Jun-2016 14:59 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 24-Jun-2016 18:38 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source] |
| 24-Jun-2016 18:38 | Aerossurance | Updated [Phase, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:30 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 11-May-2017 11:31 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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