ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 24035
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| Date: | Wednesday 3 October 2001 |
| Time: | 16:30 |
| Type: |  Robinson R22 Mariner |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | 3A-MLE |
| MSN: | 2787 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1998 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Enchastrayes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence 04 -
 France
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Barcelonnette Airfield (BAE/LFMR) |
| Monte Carlo Heliport (MCM/LNMC) | |
| Investigating agency: | BEA |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The instructor and student were conducting an instructional flight navigating from Monaco heliport to the Airfield at Barcelonnette Saint-Pons and back.
The weather forecast services to France were on strike. The pilots are in possession of the observations made on the region. Before the start of the Monaco club's chief pilot instructor recommends that the choice to return, a path following the Ubaye valley to the west, a path to climb to cruising altitude safely.
The flight is direct and passes including the Col de Fours, altitude 7592 feet east of the summit "the Chapeau de Gendarme".
After a short stop, take-off to Monaco Heliport from Barcelonnette Saint-Pons was done, facing east. It was followed by a set of course right to the neck of Fours, with the intention of taking a direct route to Cape Monaco southeast. The instructor explains that he finds climbing difficult as the rotor speed decreases. He takes orders and operates the throttle to increase the regime. That's when the alarm "low rotor" sounds.
By the time he took command, he remembers being at an altitude of 7,500 feet with a speed of 60 knots, an inlet pressure of 23 inches of mercury and a rate of climb in vertical speed of 300 feet per minute. The Student pilot, meanwhile, remembers a speed of 50 knots, an indication to the VSI moving from 0 to 200 feet per minute during the climb along the slope.
In the absence of support, forced an emergency landing with a large sink rate, the instructor can not avoid the brutal impact on one part in a gentle slope located in the immediate path of the device. The low height of the helicopter at the time of the alarm did not allow the pilot to make an auto-rotation.
Under the conditions of the day, taking off from Barcelonnette Saint-Pons was conducted within the limits specified by the manufacturer (with a mass of 610 kg at a temperature of 22 degrees C, the maximum authorized altitude for takeoff is 6,700 feet with a maximum inlet pressure available from 23 inches of mercury).
Examination of the engine did not reveal any failure that may cause or have contributed to the loss of power.
The aerodrome of Barcelonnette Saint-Pons, 3,714 feet at the accident site, 7,218 feet, the helicopter traveled between 8 and 13.5 nautical miles and conducted a vertical drop of 3,500 feet.
The steep, the rapid decrease in density of the air added to downdrafts from the front and right through without power reserve, were contributing factors in the causes of the event.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. https://www.bea.aero/docspa/2001/3-le011003/htm/3-le011003.html
2. http://www.griffin-helicopters.co.uk/accidentdetails.aspx?accidentkey=4004_
3. http://www.bea.aero/docspa/2001/3-le011003/pdf/3-le011003.pdf
4. http://www.civilianaviation.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=96&t=1280
5. http://www.rotorspot.nl/historic/3a.php
6. http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframePhotoViewer.php?Serial=8855
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 21-Dec-2011 18:02 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 26-Sep-2016 17:27 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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