Preliminary Reports
Upset Preceded In-flight Break-up
Robinson R66, Oct. 26, 2023, Hawks Nest, New South Wales, Australia
Footage recovered from an onboard video camera showed that the helicopter underwent a series of intensifying attitude excursions as the pilot attempted to override the autopilot, eventually rolling past inverted to a 270-degree right bank before breaking up and crashing into Providence Bay near Hawks Nest. The solo 1,119-hour private pilot was the only casualty.
The personal flight departed from Cressnock Airport at 08:50 local time on a VFR flight to Wallis Island. The pilot coordinated transit through the Williamtown restricted airspace with air traffic control and was cleared to altitudes up to 2,000 feet upon reaching Anna Bay. The recovered footage showed that at 09:20 the helicopter was at about 900 feet with the autopilot engaged when it rolled slightly to the right, began to climb, and pitched down. During the next 20 seconds, the pilot made cyclic inputs as the helicopter rolled 25 degrees left and pitched up 10 degrees, rolled back and forth 10-15 degrees, then pitched down, rolled over, and broke apart.
Two days after the accident NSW police divers located the wreckage of the tail boom and most of the cabin in shallow water on the floor of Providence Bay. Visible damage suggested that the tail boom had been severed by a main rotor blade. The section of the cabin ceiling with the video camera attached subsequently washed ashore. The recorded images captured GPS position, acceleration parameters, and engine and rotor rpm as well as exterior and interior cabin views.
No Survivors in Texas Approach Crash
Pilatus PC-12/45, Dec. 14, 2023, Christoval, Texas
A San Diego couple and “three pets” were killed when their single-engine turboprop crashed during an attempted GPS approach to Runway 36 at San Angelo (Texas) Regional Airport. The flight had departed from Jacksonville, Florida at 07:51 CST. At 12:11, while receiving initial radar vectors for the approach, the pilot reported cloud tops between 4,100 and 4,400 feet. The flight was level at 4,300 feet receiving radar vectors for the approach.
At 12:17:24 the pilot was instructed to “Turn right heading 030, maintain 4,300 until established on the final approach course” and cleared for the approach. Twelve seconds later he transmitted, “We overshot it.” The controller replied, “I know. That’s why I gave you a 030.” The Pilatus began turning right while descending at about 1,000 fpm, increasing to 5,000 fpm over the next four seconds as the turn tightened. At 12:17:47 the pilot transmitted, “We got a problem.” No further communications were received.
The initial impact crater was adjacent to a small tree cut at a 24-degree angle. “Engine components exhibited torsional deformation and rotational signatures” suggesting that the engine was turning at impact. A suite of Garmin avionics was installed in the 1997-model airplane in 2020. The pilot’s electronic logbook recorded 111 hours in the accident airplane during the preceding year, including 16.3 in actual IMC.
News Helicopter Lost Returning to Base
Eurocopter AS350B2, Dec. 19, 2023, Atlantic City, New Jersey
The Philadelphia-based news helicopter crashed into a pine forest while returning from an assignment on the New Jersey shore, killing the pilot and videographer. It had orbited the location seven miles south-southeast of Atlantic City for about 10 minutes before being directed to return. The aircraft was refuelled before the flight, its third of the day.
Two hours later, the television station advised the helicopter’s operator that they’d been unable to reach the crew. State and local authorities initiated a search that located the wreckage in “a densely wooded area of the Hammond State Forest.” Most of it had been consumed by a post-crash fire. Flight control continuity could not be established, but the wreckage showed no evidence of powerplant or rotor failure.
FAA flight-track data showed that about 15 minutes after departure, the helicopter began descending as it drifted right of the direct flight path. In the next 29 seconds it dropped from 1,100 to 250 feet while accelerating from 93 to 115 knots.
Final Reports
Unstable Pre-dawn Approach Comes Up Short
Dassault Falcon 20C, Oct. 5, 2021, Thomson, Georgia
The pilot and first officer of an overnight on-demand cargo flight were killed when their 1967-model twin-engine jet struck trees on final approach to Runway 10 at Thomson-McDuffie County (Georgia) Airport at 05:44 local time. The on--demand Part 135 cargo flight began at 21:32 MDT with a one-hour leg from El Paso to Lubbock, Texas, where the crew was delayed two hours 20 minutes waiting for additional freight to arrive.
At 05:03 Eastern time, the crew asked Atlanta ARTCC for notams regarding the ILS approach to Runway 10 and were advised that the glideslope was out of service. At 05:25 they requested the “ILS” and were cleared for the approach, but while still outside the initial approach fix the captain reported the airport in sight and cancelled IFR. The airport’s pilot-activated approach and runway lights came on at 05:39. ADS-B track data showed that the Falcon passed the final approach fix 500 feet left of course, 600 feet high, and 20 knots fast.
Rather than commanding a go-around, the captain told the first officer to deploy the air brakes, an approach configuration not authorized by the manufacturer. With air brakes, landing gear, and 40 degrees of flaps extended, the airplane entered a rapid descent. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) captured the pilot warning that they were now low, then a few seconds later that he saw trees in their path. Sounds of increasing thrust were accompanied by the audible stall warning, and the airplane’s descent was not arrested.
During the flight, the CVR also recorded numerous instances of the captain telling the first officer to “fly the airplane” with instructions to correct deviations from the approach. No altitude call-outs were made during the descent, and at one point the captain told the first officer to “follow the glideslope” though it was out of service. The operator’s records showed that the first officer had never been upgraded to captain despite several years of Falcon 20 experience “due to his lack of aeronautical decision making and airmanship necessary to become a captain.”
Neglect of Single-engine Procedures Caused Fatal Freighter Crash
Swearingen SA-226AT, Dec. 10, 2021, Manchester, New Hampshire
The 23-year-old commercial pilot’s failure to feather and secure the left engine and increase power on the right following “a perceived…loss of power in the left engine” caused airspeed to decay, resulting in a fatal loss of control just short of the runway threshold. The twin-engine turboprop was on the final segment of the ILS approach to Runway 06 at Manchester Boston Regional Airport at 23:30:42 local time when the pilot reported an engine failure without specifying which engine. Radio and radar contact were lost nine seconds later with the airplane about one-quarter mile from the threshold. ADS-B flight track data showed that during those nine seconds its groundspeed decreased from 99 to 88 knots and it descended 400 feet in a slight left turn. This airplane’s published minimum controllable single-engine airspeed is 92 knots.
The wreckage was found on the riverbank with no debris path leading to a six-by-three-foot crater about two feet deep. Both engines and propellers were found with the main wreckage; neither propeller had been feathered.
Teardown examination of the left engine found that one first-stage turbine blade had separated mid-span, but whether that happened on or before the accident flight was not determined. The second-stage stator assembly was “missing vane material from the 6 to 12 o’clock positions, consistent with thermal damage over a period of time,” and microscopic analysis showed that the second stage had operated at temperatures 500 degrees higher than the first for 10 to 100 hours. No anomalies were found in the right engine.
The NTSB concluded that the damage to the left engine would have reduced performance without causing a total loss of power, and that if the pilot had feathered its propeller and increased power on the right engine, “the airplane’s performance should have been sufficient for the pilot to complete the landing on the runway.” His 2,257 hours of flight experience included 496 in multi-engine airplanes, 118 in the SA-226AT.
Helicopter Downed in Fog
Airbus Helicopters AS350B3, Nov. 1, 2022, Verdal, Trøndelag County, Norway
The Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority (NSIA) attributed the helicopter’s crash 10 to 20 seconds after liftoff to the pilot’s loss of visual references in fog. The pilot survived with serious injuries but both passengers were killed when the craft struck the ground 450 meters (1,475 feet) from the helipad. Improperly stowed cargo, incorrectly fastened restraints, and the failure of the rotary buckle on one safety harness were cited as having contributed to ejecting the passengers from the cabin. The passengers’ dog was also ejected but survived.
The pilot first attempted to fly them to the Gaundalen mountain farm in Snåsa municipality two days earlier, but had to abort due to fog in the mountains. The next day fog at the helicopter’s base in Verdal precluded taking off. A break in the fog allowed two other company helicopters to depart at about 08:15 the morning of the accident. At about 10:30, the accident pilot thought the fog was lifting in the northeasterly direction of the flight but had to maneuver around a clump of trees adjacent to the helipad. When interviewed by the NSIA he was unable to remember anything between lifting off and seeing the helicopter approach the ground at high speed, but immediately after the accident he told rescuers that “It was like flying into a wall of fog…everything was just white. The fog just closed around me.”