ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 19040
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| Date: | Thursday 12 December 1996 |
| Time: | 18:16 |
| Type: |  Sikorsky S-76B |
| Owner/operator: | Norbrook Industries |
| Registration: | G-HAUG |
| MSN: | 760358 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1989 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 2 mls SE of Omeath, Co. Louth -
 Ireland
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Belfast International - Aldergrove Airport |
| Ballyedmond | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIU |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
G-HAUG departed Belfast International - Aldergrove Airport on 12 December at 18.03 hrs, to return to its home base at Ballyedmond, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. This would normally be a flight of some 20 minutes duration. The approach to the home base was executed using a locally produced GPS-based approach procedure. Having commenced its descent, in preparation for landing at Ballyedmond, the helicopter struck the north face of the Carlingford Mountains at 960 feet above sea level, approximately 2 miles SE of the village of Omeath, Co. Louth, at 18.16 hrs. All three occupants suffered fatal injuries.
AAIU note that there was no proper planning for the final flight to Ballyedmond. In particular no check was made on the weather in the Ballyedmond area before the final flight.
The PNF was the commander of the final flight, but did not brief the PF adequately. The PF had not expected to fly the final flight to Ballyedmond at the end of a prior training flight. Consequently, he had not prepared for the flight, which was into an area with which he was not familiar, and which was to be flown at night and in poor weather. When offered, he accepted the flight, but he did not request a briefing.
The crew failed to complete standard checks at the end of the training flight, and again before the final departure. This probably resulted in the aircraft cockpit remaining in the configuration used in the training flight. For this reason the radar was probably off for the entire final flight.
AAIU state: The corporate environment of the operation of G-HAUG, particularly the type of flights flown, the use of such a sophisticated aircraft, the application of GPS to approaches in a very restricted area and the employment of professional pilots to manage the operation on behalf of an owner who was not a pilot, do not appear to be compatible with the norms of private category aviation, or with the spirit of the rules and regulations that apply to that category. The regulation under the UK ANO that permits pilots without an Instrument Rating to fly at night, and in IMC, outside controlled airspace, while operating in the private category, appears anomalous, particularly when sophisticated aircraft are used in a corporate aviation environment.
The primary cause of the accident was the loss of situational awareness which prompted the PNF's decision to deviate from the programmed route when he instructed the PF to delay the turn on to the final segment of the approach to the missed approach point, waypoint MAP, by maintaining a heading of south at waypoint WARRN, and his subsequent failure to monitor the aircraft's rate of turn when he initially instructed the PF to execute the turn.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
http://www.aaiu.ie/sites/default/files/upload/general/4719-0.PDF
Media:
Over 25 years ago this was a tragic ‘heads up’ to the hazards of using technology to assist a transition to VMC https://t.co/NF8nTBGQfm pic.twitter.com/74mZ3xIAlP
— GASCI Ireland (@Gasci_ie) January 26, 2022
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 11:10 | ASN archive | Added |
| 27-Nov-2008 08:22 | harro | Updated |
| 12-Jun-2010 11:36 | TB | Updated [Other fatalities] |
| 23-Aug-2014 14:46 | Aerossurance | Updated [Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 20-Jul-2023 12:16 | Aerossurance | Updated [[Nature, Source, Narrative]] |
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