ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 273192
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| Date: | Saturday 22 May 2004 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Hughes 269C |
| Owner/operator: | |
| Registration: | ZS-HXA |
| MSN: | 51427 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | In close proximity of Paradise Beach farm, near Humansdorp -
 South Africa
|
| Phase: | |
| Nature: | |
| Departure airport: | Impala Range Aerodrome near Humansdorp |
| Impala Range Aerodrome near Humansdorp | |
| Investigating agency: | CAA S.A. |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The instructor reported that the helicopter was parked on the helipad and refueled. The owner who is also a pilot assured the instructor pilot that the fuel was tested for contamination before the helicopter was moved out of the hangar. They took off and the helicopter operated normal. They spent approximately 15 minutes executing some upper-airwork before returning to the Aerodrome for circuit exercises. After completion of the circuit exercises, they returned to Paradise Beach farm. About 10 km from the farm the engine misfired but continued to run smoothly. The same happened again at about 5km from the farm. The pilot commended to the owner/ pilot that it felt like a dirty spark plug. Shortly after that, the helicopter started to loose power and airspeed. The instructor then decided to carry out a roll on precautionary landing on a farm road next to a fence. Prior to touch down and at approximately 50-100 feet AGL, the engine stopped and this was indicative of the slight loss of rotor rpm. The helicopter touched down hard and skidded forward for about 5 meters and turned to the left through 160s? and stopped. The aircrafts' main rotor blades severed the tail-boom section and the tail rotor blades were damaged as a result of the impact. The pilot then switched off the aircraft and both occupants vacated the helicopter uninjured. During the investigation after the accident, the engine was started inside the hangar and was running rough only when the rpm was increased. The fuel tank was drained and water sediment was found. Although the necessary precautions were taken during the refuelling process, it was still very likely that contamination could occur due to various reasons, and the most likely one being condensation. The last Mandatory Periodic Inspection prior to the accident was carried out on 11December 2003 at 696.0 airframe hours and the aircraft accumulated a further 14.0 hours since the last MPI. PROBABLE CAUSE: Engine failure due to fuel contamination, which resulted in the pilot executing a precautionary landing.
Accident investigation:
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Sources:
S.A. CAA
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
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