A training exercise gone bad resulted in a hard landing of a 1973 Bell 212, registered as C-GTHK and operated by Sequoia Helicopters Ltd., near Abbotsford, British Columbia, on April 4. The two-person crew planned to simulate a one engine inoperative (OEI) condition on takeoff.
According to an account of the accident published by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) yesterday, the crew discussed simulating OEI during a towering takeoff. At a pre-takeoff decision point of 50 to 60 feet agl, the number-one engine was rolled back. Rotor rpm decayed rapidly and an immediate descent occurred. Attempts by the check pilot to arrest descent via raising the collective proved unsuccessful due to low rotor rpm and the helicopter made a hard landing, activating the emergency locator transmitter (ELT). Neither pilot was injured.
According to the TSB, “It is believed that the number-two engine throttle may not have been set completely to flight prior to the training exercise. When the number-one throttle was rolled back to idle to simulate the engine failure, the number-two engine could not maintain sufficient main rotor rpm, which resulted in a hard landing.”