Date:	Thursday 15 May 2008
Time:	13:50
Type:	Robinson R44 II
Owner/operator:	Lakeside Collection Ltd
Registration:	G-LAVH
MSN:	12208
Year of manufacture:	2008
Engine model:	Lycoming IO-540-AE1A5
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Bolholt Country Park Hotel, Walshaw Road, Bury, Lancashire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Bolholt Country Park Hotel, Walshaw Road, Bury, Lancashire
Destination airport:	Bolholt Country Park Hotel, Walshaw Road, Bury, Lancashire
Investigating agency:	AAIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
Written off (destroyed by fire) at a Private landing site in the ground of the Bolholt Country Park Hotel, Walshaw Road, Bury, Lancashire: Crashed during a series of hovering exercises carried out by newly type rated pilot. The pilot (the sole person on board) sustained only minor injuries. A contemporary press report (see link '#5) name the pilot as "Stefan Sikorski, aged 50...Mr Sikorski’s company Lavender Hotels own the Bolholt Hotel and the Old Mill in Ramsbottom. He had only purchased the Robinson R44 Raven 11 machine a week earlier". According to the summary of the official AAIB report into the accident:

"The pilot had been carrying out solo hovering exercises in a newly acquired helicopter. After landing to change the frequency on the helicopter’s radio, he lifted the helicopter back into the hover but realised that the cyclic control was now ‘very heavy’. The helicopter began to oscillate from left to right so he descended back onto the ground from a height of 6 to 8 ft, possibly touching down on the front of its skids in a nose down attitude. During this manoeuvre it is possible that the rotors made contact with the ground and the resultant vibration caused the windscreen to detach. The helicopter was subsequently destroyed by fire but the pilot escaped with minor bruising."

Nature of Damage sustained to airframe: Per the AAIB report "Helicopter destroyed by fire". As a result, the registration G-LAVH was cancelled by the CAA on 04-11-2008 as "destroyed"

1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f14240f0b61342000319/Robinson_R44_Raven_II__G-LAVH_09-08.pdf
2. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=LAVH
3. http://www.helicoptersafety.org/genericaccident.asp?ACType=R44
4. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://coptercrazy.brinkster.net/search/r44-2show.asp?start=2201&count=50]
5. http://www.burytimes.co.uk/news/3683831.Cause_of_Bolholt_helicopter_crash_still_unknown/
6. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/44753/Hotel-boss-escapes-helicopter-inferno
7. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.sywellaerodrome.co.uk/gallery/large/sywellaerodrome664.jpg]
8. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/2000-2009_33.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-Oct-2016 16:53	Dr.John Smith	Added