ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 177557
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| Date: | Friday 3 July 2015 |
| Time: | 13:39 LT |
| Type: |  Eurocopter AS 350B3e Ecureuil |
| Owner/operator: | Air Methods Corp (AMC) |
| Registration: | N390LG |
| MSN: | 7595 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2013 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 487 hours |
| Engine model: | Turbomeca Arriel 2D |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | St. Anthony Summit Medical Center, Frisco, CO -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Ambulance |
| Departure airport: | Frisco, CO (91CO) |
| Gypsum, CO | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On July 3, 2015, about 1339 mountain daylight time, an Airbus Helicopters AS350 B3e helicopter, N390LG, registered to and operated by Air Methods Corporation, lifted off from the Summit Medical Center Heliport, Frisco, Colorado, and then crashed into a parking lot; the impact point was located 360 feet southwest of the ground-based helipad. The pilot was fatally injured, and the two flight nurses were seriously injured. The helicopter was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire. The flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 on a company flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
Probable Cause:
Airbus Helicopters' dual-hydraulic AS350 B3e helicopter's (1) preflight hydraulic check, which depleted hydraulic pressure in the tail rotor hydraulic circuit, and (2) lack of salient alerting to the pilot that hydraulic pressure was not restored before takeoff. Such alerting might have cued the pilot to his failure to reset the yaw servo hydraulic switch to its correct position during the preflight hydraulic check, which resulted in a lack of hydraulic boost to the pedal controls, high pedal forces, and a subsequent loss of control after takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to perform a hover check after liftoff, which would have alerted him to the pedal control anomaly at an altitude that could have allowed him to safely land the helicopter. Contributing to the severity of the injuries was the helicopter's fuel system, which was not crash resistant and facilitated a fuel-fed postcrash fire.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2018/02/26/dave-repsher-frisco-helicopter-crash/
Oct 2018: https://www.aspentimes.com/news/federal-aviation-administration-to-require-crash-resistant-fuel-tanks-after-frisco-flight-for-life-pilot-tragedy/
http://aerossurance.com/helicopters/fuel-fiery-frisco-accident/
NTSB________________________
NTSB report: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/ReportGeneratorFile.ashx?EventID=20150703X00859&AKey=1&RType=Final&IType=MA
____________________________
Location
Media:
#OTD in 2015 A fatal US #HEMS helicopter accident highlighted the safety benefit of retro-fitting crash resistant fuel systems.https://t.co/dL5akVCIM7 #aviationsafety #flightsafety #airambulance #helicopter #accident #ntsb pic.twitter.com/geCtSslges
— Aerossurance (@Aerossurance) July 2, 2020
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Jul-2015 06:06 | Geno | Added |
| 04-Jul-2015 13:57 | CTYONE | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn] |
| 09-Jul-2015 17:37 | Geno | Updated [Time, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source] |
| 11-Jul-2015 15:55 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Narrative] |
| 12-Jul-2015 12:14 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 12-Jul-2015 12:18 | Aerossurance | Updated [Operator, Narrative] |
| 25-Jul-2015 09:27 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source] |
| 12-May-2016 15:53 | Aerossurance | Updated [Aircraft type, Source] |
| 12-May-2016 15:58 | Aerossurance | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 17-Aug-2016 18:37 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:30 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 28-Mar-2017 19:00 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 19-Apr-2017 23:08 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Embed code] |
| 19-Aug-2017 14:54 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 06-Mar-2018 11:50 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 04-Oct-2018 18:53 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 16-Feb-2020 15:37 | harro | Updated [Embed code, Accident report, ] |
| 02-Jul-2020 08:06 | Aerossurance | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Source, Embed code] |
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