ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 272465
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| Date: | Thursday 23 February 2006 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Bell 206L-3 |
| Owner/operator: | |
| Registration: | ZS-HSX |
| MSN: | 51097 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1984 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: / Occupants: |
| Aircraft damage: | |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | South of Scarborough Beach, 3km form Cape Point -
 South Africa
|
| Phase: | |
| Nature: | |
| Departure airport: | V&A Waterfront, Cape Town |
| V&A Waterfront, Cape Town | |
| Investigating agency: | CAA S.A. |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot was accompanied by six passengers, who were on a sight seeing chartered flight from Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town. According to the pilot; the endurance of the whole flight was planned to be about one hour back to the initial departure point. Although the take off was uneventful; the pilot mentioned to the passengers that the helicopter feels '?a bit heavy'?. The helicopter climbed out normally and an altitude of 2500ft Above Ground Level (AGL) was attained and maintained. During the flight all appeared normal and while overhead an area called Scarborough; the pilot heard an 'engine out'? audio sound; followed by a low rotor rpm warning. He immediately informed the passengers of the situation and looked for an open area to execute a forced landing. He immediately lowered the collective pitch lever and commenced with an autorotation flight towards an identified open sandy beach. According the passenger who occupied the front seat next to the pilot and who is also a private pilot; the autorotation was quite normal and under control with no panic at all from the pilot in command. This was done at a speed of 60 KIAS. The passenger further stated that this indicated to him that their touch down would be fairly smooth and controllable. However; shortly prior to their landing; the helicopter touched down quite hard. The skids toes touched first and dug into the soft sand. The helicopter continued to skid forward uncontrollably until it came to rest on its starboard side a few meters from the initial impact point, and all occupants egressed from the helicopter. The helicopter was extensively damaged when the skids failed during the impact sequence and the main rotor blades severed the tailboom causing the tailboom and the tail rotor assembly to fail on impact with the ground. The helicopter's under fuselage and the cabin structure areas were also damaged. All occupants sustained serious injuries and were taken to hospital for medical treatment. The last mandatory periodic inspection (MPI); was certified on 23 December 2005 at 6771.2 airframe hours and the helicopter accumulated a further 99.5 hours since the last MPI was certified. Probable Cause Hard landing during an emergency autorotative landing. Contributory Factors: Substantial engine power degradation due to the failure of the P3 air pipe adjoining the Governor unit and the FCU. The pilot failed to cushion the touch down impact forces accordingly which resulted in a hard landing.
Accident investigation:
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Sources:
S.A. CAA
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
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