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Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative: A Bell 206L-3 LongRanger III (D-HOTT) and an Aeroprakt A22L Foxbat (EC-GU1) crashed following a mid-air collision accident over Inca, Mallorca, Balearic Islands. The helicopter, which was operating a scenic flight with four passengers onboard, impacted a garden and burst into flames. The ultralight impacted a fence and burst into flames. Both aircraft were destroyed. The pilot and four passengers onboard the helicopter and the two occupants onboard the ultralight perished.
The aircraft were on converging trajectories travelling in opposite directions, with the ultralight slightly below and to the left of the helicopter, according to the latter’s direction of travel. Up until the instant before the collision, the pilots were unaware of the presence of another aircraft in their surroundings. At the last moment, the pilots became aware of the imminent collision and performed an evasive manoeuvre: the helicopter lowering its nose and turning to the right, causing the main rotor blades’ plane of rotation to be practically vertical, and the ultralight applying power to rise slightly above the helicopter. At that moment, the blade that rotates in an anti-clockwise direction hits the ultralight’s left wing, severing the tip and its flaperon. Subsequently, and as a consequence of losing lift from its left wing, the ultralight veered sharply to the left, moving its stabiliser and rudder towards the main rotor’s plane of rotation, which resulted in the next blade completely severing the top of the stabiliser and partially severing the rudder. At the same time, the ultralight’s forward momentum caused its front underside to hit the helicopter’s vertical stabiliser, which houses the tail rotor, causing it to break into two parts and subsequently fall off.
The ultralight, which was now missing part of its left wing and its stabiliser, entered a left-hand spin, causing it to impact the ground in an inverted position.
The helicopter, with its main rotor blades damaged and without a tail rotor or vertical stabiliser, began to spin out of control in a clockwise direction, descending until it finally crashes into the ground.
Causes/contributing factors: The most likely cause of the accident was insufficient airspace surveillance.
A mid-air collision between a sightseeing helicopter and a small plane on the Spanish island of Mallorca killed seven people Sunday, authorities said. The victims included three adults and two children on the helicopter and two local men. https://t.co/HwiiPZir9S