Date:	Thursday 4 March 2021
Time:	10:36 UTC
Type:	Leonardo (Agusta Westland) AW189
Owner/operator:	HM Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Registration:	G-MCGU
MSN:	92007
Year of manufacture:	2014
Engine model:	General Electric CT7-2E1
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Category:	Serious incident
Location:	3 nm south-east of Porthcawl, Mid-Glamorgan, Wales -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	Porthcawl, Mid-Glamorgan, Wales
Destination airport:	St.Athan, South Glamorgan, Wales
Investigating agency:	AAIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
AAIB investigation to Leonardo AW189, G-MCGU: Emergency landing following failure of heating duct, 3 nautical miles south-east of Porthcawl, Wales, 4 March 2021. The AAIB final report into the incident was published on 7 April 2022, and the following is the summary from that report:

"While returning from a SAR training sortie, shortly after selecting the cabin and cockpit heating ON, a heating duct failed causing fragments of duct insulation material to be discharged through the heating vents. The heating system was turned OFF but the subsequent presence of smoke, and a smell of burning, prompted an emergency landing. Several weeks later, a similar heating duct failure occurred on another of the operator’s AW189 helicopters. The occupants of both helicopters suffered respiratory irritation.

The investigation determined that the heating ducts failed due to non-uniform adhesion at joints between rigid and flexible sections of duct. Interim safety action taken by the manufacturer includes the publication of a Service Bulletin to inspect and modify the installation of the heating duct. A further heating duct failure occurred on another AW189 following embodiment of the Service Bulletin and that event will be reported separately by the AAIB. At the time of publication of this report, the investigation into the recent duct failure is ongoing and the aircraft manufacturer is continuing to work with the duct manufacturer to achieve a permanent design solution.

=Damage To Airframe=
Collapsed heating duct, cabin air vent motors and auto transformer rectifier units ingested debris.

1. AAIB Final Report: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6257dafed3bf7f600d40566f/Leonardo_AW189_G-MCGU_04-22.pdf
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-61130407
3. https://www.helis.com/database/cn/47685/
4. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/gmcgu
5. https://planefinder.net/data/aircraft/G-MCGU
6. https://planelogger.com/Aircraft/Registration/G-MCGU/894269
7. https://helihub.com/2022/04/14/uk-aaib-bulletin-april-2022/

AgustaWestland AW189 ‘G-MCGU’ c/n 92007: Built 2014. Operated for HM Coastguard by Bristow Helicopters. Seen on static display at the 2019 Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, UK 20th July 2019

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-May-2022 19:04	Dr. John Smith	Added
29-May-2022 19:10	harro	Updated [Embed code, Accident report]
02-Jun-2022 20:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator]
05-Jul-2023 03:07	Ron Averes	Updated [[Operator]]