ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 48238
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.
| Date: | Sunday 9 August 1987 |
| Time: | 11:20 LT |
| Type: |  Enstrom F-28A-UK |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | G-BALE |
| MSN: | 119 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Thruxton Airfield, Andover, Hampshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Thruxton Airfield (EGHO) |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
This was a tragic mid-air collision involving only one aircraft. A strange comment, some might think. However the sole aircraft was Enstrom F-28A helicopter G-BALE. The other party to the collision was a descending parachutist.
On 9 August 1987 G-BALE was being used for a training flight with an instructor and student on board. It was undertaking a low hovering exercise about 350 metres north of Thruxton Airfield's runway 08/26. Somewhere above it was a Britten-Norman Islander, out of which a number of trainee parachutists had jumped. Their objective was to land in a drop zone, marked with an X, south of runway 08/26. Sadly the third parachutist to leave the Islander did not follow the course that she had, pre-flight, been directed to pursue, with the result that rather than being in or about the region of the drop zone, as she approached the ground, she was over where the helicopter was hovering. Using a loud hailer, the drop zone controller told the parachutist to pull her left toggle, in order to turn away from where the helicopter was hovering. For reasons that never will be known, she did not do so but descended into the main rotor blades of helicopter. She was killed on impact.
The first that the crew of the helicopter knew of the incident was when they heard a loud thud, after which it spun 180º to starboard and struck the ground heavily on its starboard side. The two crew, who suffered only minor injuries, were assisted to vacate the helicopter. The helicopter sustained major damage to its rotor blades, gearbox and fuselage. The CAA cancelled its registration on 18 October 1989 as 'destroyed'.
It seems that a communication breakdown may have contributed to this sad incident. The pilot of the Islander said that he notified ATC that he had made his drop. However the crew of the helicopter said that they had heard no radio transmission, either from the Islander or ATC, and thus were unaware that parachutists were being dropped and saw no parachutists until one hit the helicopter. As a result of this incident the airfield operating rules were changed to forbid (a) any parachute jumps whilst helicopters are operating in the airfield traffic zone and (b) any jumps by parachutists who've made less than twenty jumps if there are aircraft in its circuit. Essentially the new arrangement was to provide for periods of time for circuit flying and for periods of time for parachute drops and to avoid co-incidence between the two. Also there was to be better communication between ATC and the dropping aircraft to stop parachutists being dropped if there are helicopters operating in the airfield traffic zone.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB Final Report: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f43e40f0b61342000471/Enstrom_F28A_helicopter__G-BALE__11-87.pdf
2. http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=60&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=reg&fullregmark=BALE
3. The Guardian, 10 August 1987
4. https://apnews.com/article/2e5ced11a31098248aadb5f1000c840c
5. https://alt.folklore.urban.narkive.com/7JK6AfU5/did-a-parachutist-really-descend-into-helicopter-blades
6. https://groups.google.com/g/alt.folklore.urban/c/-VAD8Z8d45g
7. https://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
8. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=17444.0
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 07-Nov-2008 10:15 | ASN archive | Added |
| 18-Jan-2009 08:31 | Anon. | Updated |
| 30-Apr-2013 15:26 | TB | Updated [Date, Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Other fatalities, Country, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 14-May-2013 21:31 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 20-May-2013 18:00 | TB | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 05-Aug-2022 15:14 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by:
Quick Links:
| ASN Home | Send Correction / Feedback |
| FSF Home | Disclaimer | Copyright |
| Contact Us | Privacy Policy |
| Press / Media |
CONNECT WITH US:
©2024 Flight Safety Foundation