ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 178258
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| Date: | Saturday 17 August 1974 |
| Time: | 08:45 LT |
| Type: |  Hughes 269B |
| Owner/operator: | Twyford Motors (Helicopters) Ltd |
| Registration: | G-AXXD |
| MSN: | 160-228 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Location: | River Thames, near Battersea Heliport, London -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Survey |
| Departure airport: | Battersea Heliport, London (EGLW) |
| Battersea Heliport, London (EGLW) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Substantially damaged 17/8/1974 shortly after take off from Battersea Heliport, London whilst undertaking traffic control/survey duties, on charter to the Metropolitan Police. At 07:40 hours the Hughes took off from Radlett piloted by John Evans and headed for Battersea Heliport where the helicopter landed normally at 08:10 hours. The Hughes took off from Battersea without any problems arising. Unfortunately it had to return to the pad when the observer discovered that the police radio was inoperative. Once landed it was the work of only a few seconds to trace the fault to a loose connector.
The second departure went wrong at 08:45 hours. About 30 yards downstream, 15 yards from the riverbank, G-AXXD hit the water heavily. It was fortunate that the tide was on the ebb. Amid much splintering of parts, the machine came to rest in 2 feet depth of flowing water.
A recovery team was brought in and by 12:30 hours on a rising tide the shattered remains of the helicopter were clear of the river. The AAIB decided that G-AXXD was 50 pounds overweight for the temperature conditions that had crept up as the Hughes sat at Battersea. According to an eyewitness:
"it was a warm and calm summer morning. The aircraft was a H269B – the type with lolly sticks for tail rotor blades. The police comms gear in those days was about half the size of a tea chest and looked heavy. There were only a few policemen in the observers job, and this morning they definitely sent the largest they had.
Battersea in those days was about half its present size. This often meant that there was a certain amount of overflying of parked aircraft. That morning the police aircraft had to lift itself, a pilot, full fuel, a large policeman and all that radio gear over a parked AB206. All on that warm and calm morning.
I was able to watch the ensuing drama from a safe distance – the poor little 269B wound itself up into a frenzy of noise and leapt into the air, clearing the AB206 by plenty. Then came the sorry sound of engine and rotor rpm slowing down. Yawing and descending it disappeared from view towards the river bed – some 15 feet lower than the platform, shortly followed by silence and what looked like a couple of bucketfuls of water thrown up in the air like you see on comedy sketch shows.
The crash alarm went off, but we were already running. When we peered over the edge there was the aircraft sitting upright if a little lopsided in about a foot of water and another foot or so of soft mud (fortunately, the tide was on its way out, at high tide it would have been under at least ten feet of water). The main rotor was coasting to a stop, the tail rotor looking like half a swastika and the tail rotor driveshaft like a corkscrew.
The pilot had his door held open with his foot, and a faraway look in his eyes, the policeman had put his head through the canopy behind him, only injuring the plastic as far as I remember.
In no time we were joined by the Fire Brigade and a couple of ambulances. The Fire Chief checked that we had disconnected the battery, and - incredibly - instructed us to open the fuel drains and let just about a full fuel load go into the Thames. This not only astonished us, but the thought of all that lovely 100/130 fuel going to waste was almost too much to bear.
While we were watching the river turning green, one of his guys came down and asked him “Chief, who taught that Ladder driver to drive? He’s just backed into my pump - smashed the windscreen, and the dashboard is on the seats”.
Registration G-AXXD belatedly cancelled by the CAA on 26.8.1981 as "PWFU" ("Permanently Withdrawn From Use")
NOTE: Published sources confirm that the date of the accident was August 17th, but disagree was the the actual year...some state 1973, others state 1974.
Sources:
1. https://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-AXXD.pdf
2. https://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/419023-rotary-nostalgia-thread-83.html#post7520137
3. https://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/419023-rotary-nostalgia-thread-83.html#post7519210
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 03-Aug-2015 17:42 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
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