ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 141929
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| Date: | Tuesday 17 January 2012 |
| Time: | 13:50 LT |
| Type: |  Eurocopter AS 350B3 Ecureuil |
| Owner/operator: | Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) |
| Registration: | C-FMPG |
| MSN: | 3082 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1998 |
| Engine model: | Turbomeca ARRIEL 2B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Cultus Lake, near Chilliwack, BC -
 Canada
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Cultus Lake, near Chilliwack, BC |
| Investigating agency: | TSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
The helicopter took off from a staging area with only the pilot onboard. The helicopter was hovering briefly at about 80 feet above ground level when suddenly an abnormal noise and puff of smoke occurred, seemingly from the engine. The helicopter descended, turned about 180°, and crashed on the ground below. The pilot was attended by medically trained personnel within 30 seconds of the crash, however his injuries were fatal. The aircraft was destroyed. There was no post-crash fire. It had been snowing before the accident.
The pilot was the only person aboard and died from his injuries.
The aircraft had been left parked during a snowfall.
Based on the circumstances of this occurrence and the well-documented history of engine flame-outs associated with water, snow, or ice ingress, the investigation determined that the cause of the loss of engine power was a sudden change in the critical air/fuel ratio as a result of soft ice ingestion. While it is impossible to know for sure how much soft ice was ingested by the engine, the damage to the compressor blades suggests that the amount of soft ice striking the blades was larger than the amount seen in the certification tests.
When the helicopter experienced a loss of engine power, which occurred while hovering at approximately 80 feet agl, the helicopter would not have had sufficient altitude or time to fully enter autorotative flight. As a result, the pilot would have had little opportunity to preserve main-rotor rpm (rrpm), and a high rate of descent would have developed rapidly. As the helicopter descended, the rapid decay in rrpm resulting from the engine power loss reduced the effectiveness of the flight controls, leading to an impact with terrain that was beyond human tolerances.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
http://web.archive.org/web/20121016063614/
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/medias-media/majeures-major/aviation/a12p0008/mi-a12p0008.asp
http://bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=50&languageId=1&contentId=23862
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/one-person-dead-rcmp-chopper-goes-down-b-233304640.html
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Pilot+killed+RCMP+helicopter+crash+near+Chilliwack/6010419/story.html
http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/01/17/rcmp-chopper-reportedly-crashes-in-bc
https://www.theprogress.com/news/update-rcmp-release-name-of-helicopter-pilot-killed-in-crash-near-chilliwack
http://aerossurance.com/helicopters/rcmp-as350b3-ice-ingestion/
Media:
#OTD in 2012 #RCMP AS350B3 #Helicopter Left Uncovered During Snowfall Fatally Loses Power on Take Offhttps://t.co/1tZscYnJFN #accident #aviationsafety #flightsafety #humanfactors pic.twitter.com/3cgCRgKzFg
— Aerossurance (@Aerossurance) January 17, 2021
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 18-Jan-2012 00:11 | Thaimax | Added |
| 18-Jan-2012 00:36 | Alpine Flight | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Damage] |
| 18-Jan-2012 06:01 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 07-Feb-2012 11:40 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 01-Jan-2019 21:00 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 01-Jan-2019 21:00 | Aerossurance | Updated [Narrative] |
| 01-Jan-2019 21:01 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source] |
| 02-Jan-2019 18:30 | Aerossurance | Updated [Narrative] |
| 17-Jan-2021 10:08 | Aerossurance | Updated [Departure airport, Source, Embed code] |
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