The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) faulted technology, training, and procedures for a 2021 night helicopter winching operation during a search-and-rescue mission that went dangerously sideways. Fortunately, no injuries resulted when a Leonardo AW139 nearly hit a cliff while operating near Katoomba, New South Wales.
As the helicopter was lowering a paramedic to an injured hiker, it began to bank and drift toward the nearby cliffs. In response, the pilot, aided only by night vision goggles (NVG) and the aircraft’s landing lights, inputted maximum upward nose pitch of 51 degrees and received an over-torque engine warning while executing a successful escape maneuver, during which the paramedic was grabbing onto the flight step. The helicopter then returned to Bankstown, where an aircraft inspection revealed no faults or damage.
The ATSB found that the helicopter’s external lighting was insufficient for the pilot to maintain safe visual reference. The operator has since fitted the helicopter with a searchlight. The ATSB also noted regulatory gaps and the operator’s lack of risk assessment and flight crew currency training for winch operations conducted with NVGs.
Subsequent to the incident, Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority revamped rules governing the use of NVGs in conjunction with searchlights and provided guidance regarding capability, while the operator has instituted a six-month recurrency training requirement for night winching operations and a pre-mission and on-mission risk assessment protocol governing those activities. The ATSB continued to caution that night winching regulations “only set out minimum requirements, and they should assess the risks of their operations and modify procedures, manuals, and risk assessments accordingly.”