ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 242815
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| Date: | Wednesday 28 November 2007 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Eurocopter AS 350B1 Ecureuil |
| Owner/operator: | TAF Helicopters |
| Registration: | EC-FOA |
| MSN: | 2626 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1992 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Proximidades de Elche (Alicante / Alacant) -
 Spain
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Survey |
| Departure airport: | |
| Investigating agency: | CIAIAC |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
The aircraft, with three people aboard, the pilot, a power line technician and a Wescam camera operator, took off from an area near the town of Rojales (Alicante) for the purpose of continuing with inspection work begun a few days earlier on the Rojales-Elche power line.
Once airborne, they proceeded to tower number 230 of said line, where they arrived 10 minutes into the flight.
They started the inspection work on this tower, hovering a few meters away and some 15 m above the ground. They then proceeded to tower number 231, checked it and continued flying toward tower 232. Just as the pilot reduced speed and was about to commence hovering, he heard the main rotor low RPM aural warning. He immediately looked at the RPM gauge and noted that the needle was below the green arc as he felt the engine come to a stop.
The aircraft began to lose altitude quickly, giving the pilot only sufficient time to operate the controls to separate the aircraft as much as possible from the power line and to ease the impact with the ground. The aircraft impacted the terrain violently at an almost level attitude. Even though the skids broke into several fragments, the aircraft remained upright.
The pilot and camera operator were able to exit the aircraft by the right door. The line technician, who was seated in the front LH seat, complained of severe back pain. Since there was no apparent danger of fire, he remained in the cockpit.
Once emergency services reached the accident site, they deemed it opportune to extract the line technician while still in the seat so as not injure him further. Doing so required detaching the LH door and removing the two front seats.
All three aircraft occupants were subsequently evacuated to a hospital in Elche
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
CIAIAC Ref. A-049/2007
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Sep-2020 07:58 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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