An Australian helicopter charter firm whose Bell 206B3 experienced a rollover on Oct. 7, 2014, while it was attempting to retrieve a number of passengers from a rocky ledge near the top of Mount Cook in Queensland has taken several proactive safety actions as a result of the accident, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) noted in a final report issued on January 27. The operator pledged to allow sufficient time before a flight to thoroughly research helicopter landing sites previously unused by them; reinforce a culture where pilots or staff should not be subject to undue pressure to complete tasks they judge to be unsafe or outside their individual capabilities; carry a satphone on any flights north of Mossman and west of Mareeba, Queensland; and cease operations at Mount Cook until a regulation-compliant helicopter landing pad has been installed.
According to the ATSB report, the chartered helicopter began rolling as its right skid was touching down. It then trapped the helicopter coordinator and one of the four passengers beneath the aircraft. The pilot quickly shut down the engine and the other passengers awaiting departure were able to lift the substantially damaged helicopter off the coordinator and passenger. The passenger and pilot sustained minor injuries, but the ground controller was knocked unconscious and sustained serious injuries. An ambulance officer who happened to be part of the team awaiting pickup managed to stabilize the coordinator until additional help arrived.
The pilot reported that before the flights to Mount Cook from nearby Cooktown airport with passengers, he performed a reconnaissance flight to the mountain to be certain of the landing method he’d use when he later returned. Assessing the uneven surface of the landing area after three or four practice approaches, he decided that firmly planting the right skid down while holding the helicopter in level flight was preferable to a complete landing on the uneven surface.
He also remembered the winds blowing at approximately 10 knots from the southeast during the drop-off flights and at 15 knots wind when he returned later the same day. The charter client’s ground coordinator helped guide the pilot as the helicopter returned to the landing site, but just as the helicopter was firmly settled on the surface, the coordinator and one passenger moved closer to the aircraft to begin boarding. The pilot felt the helicopter lift slightly and drift right, dragging the right skid across the rocks before the aircraft began to roll rapidly to the right, sliding a short distance before coming to a stop trapping the two people.