ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 272743
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| Date: | Saturday 23 April 2005 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Robinson R44 |
| Owner/operator: | |
| Registration: | ZS-RHM |
| MSN: | 0251 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1996 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | ca 65 kilometers east of Ermelo towards Amsterdam -
 South Africa
|
| Phase: | |
| Nature: | |
| Departure airport: | Private farm ( Bankplaas) east of Ermelo |
| Private farm ( Kliprug) east of Ermelo | |
| Investigating agency: | CAA S.A. |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot took off for a pleasure flight over his farm Bankplaas. While over flying his other farm (Kliprug) which is 5 miles from Bankplaas farm he saw an animal lying next to a stream on the side of a small hill. The pilot decided to land nearby and walked up the hill to investigate. He approached from south to the north in a decent through transition and into a hover for a touch down. The initial landing zone was spotted 15 meters south of the stream; however the pilot spotted a better landing strip 10 meters north of the stream. The pilot opted to hover-taxi (reposition) to the other side of the stream. As the pilot was initiating the taxi he heard a big bang at the back and approximately 5 meters from the ground the pilot suspected that he might have hit something. The pilot immediately dropped the collective to cushion the landing with the aircraft spun out of control but the pilot managed to cushion the landing. Damage was sustained to the tail rotor, the main rotor and the fuselage. The pilot was not injured during the accident. The pilot was correctly licensed and the aircraft type was endorsed into his license. He is also in possession of a valid medical certificate which lapses on the 18 November 2005. The last MPI was certified out on the 27 April 2004 at a total of 1457.5 airframe hours. The aircraft flew a further 97.4 airframe hours since the last MPI was certified. The investigation revealed that the pilot was flying very low and the buck which was lying in the long grass was scared by the helicopter and while trying to flee from the area it jumped into the tail rotor which failed and the aircraft crashed. Probable Cause Tail rotor failure caused by animal running into tail rotor during repositioning of the aircraft. The pilot failed to maintain good look out and the animal possibly jumped into the tail rotor.
Accident investigation:
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Sources:
S.A. CAA
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
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