Flight Safety Foundation Helicopter Safety 2003

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November–December 2003

Helicopter Strikes Trees During Emergency Climb Into Clouds 4 pages. [PDF 72K]

The New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission said that the pilot of the emergency medical services Kawasaki BK 117B-2 was flying the helicopter on a company visual flight rules route at an altitude that did not provide a sufficient safety margin above terrain for night operations.

September–October 2003

Dark Night, Fog Cited in Bell OH-58A CFIT During Law-enforcement Flight 4 pages. [PDF 121K]

Investigators did not determine whether the pilot was using night-vision goggles (NVGs) when the controlled-flight-into-terrain accident occurred. Colleagues said that the pilot routinely used NVGs during nighttime flights; the helicopter operator required that they not be used during flight in instrument conditions.

July–August 2003

Bell 407 Strikes Water During Rescue Flight Off Australian Coast 6 pages. [PDF 116K]

The crew planned to drop a life raft to two people aboard a sinking yacht, but the accident report said that the crew had not been trained properly for the night overwater flight and that the operator did not have regulatory approval to drop the life raft.

May–June 2003

Abrupt Flight Maneuvering Cited in Loss-of-control Accident 4 pages. [PDF 111K]

Earlier in the day, the pilot of the AS 350B — on his second day flying for a geophysical seismic team in the desert of the western United States — had been asked by one of the team members to fly the helicopter “a little easier.”

March–April 2003

Air Ambulance Strikes Terrain After Takeoff in Fog 4 pages. [PDF 92K]

Visibility was less than 0.25 statute mile (0.40 kilometer) when the crew of the Sikorsky S-76A began the night repositioning flight. Less than two minutes after takeoff, the helicopter struck a tree-covered hillside.

January–February 2003

EMS Helicopter Strikes Terrain During Maintenance Ferry Flight 4 pages. [PDF 68K]

Minutes before the accident, a maintenance technician had disconnected the wiring from the main-gearbox oil-pressure switch to the main-gearbox oil-pressure warning light on the Eurocopter AS 355F2 because he believed that the warning light had failed.