ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 280069
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 July 2022 |
| Time: | c. 14:30 |
| Type: |  Eurocopter AS 350BA Ecureuil |
| Owner/operator: | Mont Blanc Hélicoptères Bretagne |
| Registration: | F-GJRP |
| MSN: | 1926 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | La Vieille Lighthouse, Finistère, Bretagne -
 France
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | External load operation |
| Departure airport: | |
| Investigating agency: | BEA |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
A Eurocopter AS 350BA Ecureuil was involved in an accident during Helicopter External Sling Load Operation (HESLO) at the Vieille lighthouse, off the Pointe du Raz, during maintenance of the lighthouse. The pilot recovered the aircraft close to the sea. The Emergency Flotation System was deployed.
A person on the lighthouse was injured.
Contributing Factors
Several factors may have contributed to the conduct and continuation of the mission with degraded safety margins:
- Insufficient coordination between the operator and the client in establishing a prevention plan during mission preparation, upstream of flight preparation, which did not allow for the evaluation of all risks associated with the interference between the activities of the two involved companies, including the inability of the operator's task specialist to reach the lighthouses and coordinate with the pilot.
- Lack of coordination, even by phone before the start of flights, between the operations personnel present at the lighthouse, the task specialist, and the pilot to establish the organization and interactions during interventions, as well as likely limited coordination between the pilot and the task specialist, whose position could hardly allow for guiding the pilot during sling loading.
- The pilot's failure to consult with the RDOV (Director of Operations and Safety) to share his risk assessment and concerns based on changing weather conditions before undertaking the afternoon flights to retrieve the loads at the top of the Vieille lighthouse.
- Motivation and pressure to complete the mission, which can be explained by the following factors:
- The recent opening of the operator's base in Vannes.
- The recent hiring of the pilot and the task specialist by the operator.
- One of the first contracts signed by the base.
- Special relationships that can develop locally between clients, pilots, and task specialists at a base due to the autonomy granted by the operator to bases for interventions considered routine.
Contributing Factors to the destabilization of the trajectory and momentary loss of control during the cargo transport flight on the sling:
- Continuing the mission without prior evaluation of the situation based on changing weather conditions and the position of the loads at the top of the lighthouse.
- High workload for the pilot, ensuring not only the maintenance of particularly unstable hover flight with a significant tailwind component and likely disrupted aerological conditions but also the attachment of the load to the sling hook, in the absence of guidance by a ground person.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.letelegramme.fr/bretagne/un-helicoptere-frole-le-crash-au-large-de-la-pointe-du-raz-un-blesse-video-06-07-2022-13100635.php
https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/3322027-20220707-finistere-helicoptere-tout-proche-crash-phare-pointe-raz
https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/bretagne/finistere/quimper/video-un-helicoptere-evite-le-crash-de-justesse-au-large-de-la-pointe-du-raz-2577772.html
https://bea.aero/en/investigation-reports/notified-events/detail/accident-to-the-airbus-as350-registered-f-gjrp-on-06-07-2022-off-the-coast-of-plogoff/
https://aerossurance.com/air-accidents-incidents/lighthouse-heslo-accident/
Location
Media:
A dramatic loss of control after a load snags doing HESLO from a lighthouse. We look at the BEA safety investigation report (with VIDEO). https://t.co/dxjZWw974H #helicopter #heslo #aton #lighthouse #flightsafety #aviationsafety pic.twitter.com/oroooHyVjN
— Aerossurance (@Aerossurance) September 23, 2023
A dramatic loss of control after a load snags doing HESLO from a lighthouse. We look at the BEA safety investigation report (with VIDEO). https://t.co/dxjZWw974H #helicopter #heslo #aton #lighthouse #flightsafety #aviationsafety pic.twitter.com/GUNVb8psDA
— Aerossurance (@Aerossurance) September 23, 2023
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 06-Jul-2022 22:13 | Iceman 29 | Added |
| 06-Jul-2022 22:15 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Embed code] |
| 06-Jul-2022 22:24 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Narrative] |
| 07-Jul-2022 06:42 | SMue | Updated [Narrative] |
| 07-Jul-2022 06:55 | harro | Updated [Category] |
| 07-Jul-2022 07:49 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Damage, Narrative] |
| 07-Jul-2022 14:43 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 07-Jul-2022 21:00 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 07-Jul-2022 22:21 | Aerossurance | Updated [Nature] |
| 11-Jul-2022 16:46 | Aerossurance | Updated [Location, Narrative] |
| 18-Jul-2022 12:24 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 22-Sep-2023 16:47 | harro | Updated [[Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Source, Damage, Narrative]] |
| 23-Sep-2023 08:24 | Aerossurance | Updated [[[Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Source, Damage, Narrative]]] |
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