Mid-air collision Accident Eurocopter AS 350B3 Ecureuil LQ-CGK,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 174399
 
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Date:Monday 9 March 2015
Time:17:15 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic AS50 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Eurocopter AS 350B3 Ecureuil
Owner/operator:Government of La Rioja
Registration: LQ-CGK
MSN: 7041
Year of manufacture:2010
Fatalities:Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5
Other fatalities:5
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Category:Accident
Location:near Villa Castelli, Rioja province -   Argentina
Phase: Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:Private
Departure airport:
Destination airport:
Investigating agency: JIAAC
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
Two helicopters experienced a midair collision near Villa Castelli in La Rioja province. Both aircraft were destroyed and the ten occupants of the two helicopters were fatally injured.
The two helicopters were local government operated aircraft being utilized for the filming of the French TV reality survival show Dropped.

In an operation classified as aerial work, which involved the transport of
passengers and air-air filming activity, there was an in-flight collision between
the two participating aircrafts. The collision was caused by the combination of
the following factors:
- Location of the helicopter that was filming (LQ-FJQ), from the “outside”, in the path of both aircrafts, that significantly limited the visual contact of the pilot who had to move forward in flight in order to film the target (LQCGK);
- Lack of a formal assessment of the safety risks for an unusual operation (filming and flight in proximity), which prevented the identification and analysis of the dangers inherent to that operation, and the adoption of mitigation actions, requirement not required by the current regulations;
- Deficiencies in the operation planning that led to the accident, including the failure of observing the “see and be seen” concept or an evasive maneuver if visual contact is lost between both aircrafts;
- Lack of formal procedures in accordance with the nature of the operations performed;
- The use of aircrafts whose public identification prefix does not imply providing logistics and aerial support for filming of a completely private nature;
- Ambiguity in the observance of regulations related to air operations of public aircrafts;

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: JIAAC
Report number: 
Status: Investigation completed
Duration:
Download report: Final report

Sources:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/67186780/ten-dead-in-double-helicopter-crash-in-argentina
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/03/10/10-dead-after-2-helicopters-crash-in-northwest-argentina.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31809231
https://www.yahoo.com/news/2-helicopters-crash-northwest-argentina-10-dead-224126618.html?.gg_invalid=true
https://aerospotter.blogspot.de/2015/03/accidente-en-la-rioja.html
https://www.infobae.com/2015/03/10/1714935-video-asi-fue-el-accidente-helicopteros-la-rioja/ (video)
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/video-poor-communication-between-pilots-in-argentina-helicopter-409982/
http://www.bea.aero/fr/enquetes/2015/2015.semaine.11.pdf
http://aerossurance.com/news/tv-helicopter-accident/
https://www.jiaac.gob.ar/files/88-15.pdf
http://www.france24.com/en/20151217-pilot-error-crash-french-sports-stars-argentina-reality-television

Location

Media:

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
10-Mar-2015 05:54 Geno Added
10-Mar-2015 06:08 Geno Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Nature, Source, Narrative]
10-Mar-2015 07:08 Buffalo Joe Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Source]
10-Mar-2015 07:10 harro Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities]
10-Mar-2015 07:11 harro Updated [Aircraft type, Cn]
10-Mar-2015 14:45 Aerossurance Updated [Source, Narrative]
10-Mar-2015 21:21 Aerossurance Updated [Source]
18-Mar-2015 09:22 Aerossurance Updated [Source]
17-Dec-2015 17:29 Iceman 29 Updated [Source, Narrative]
17-Dec-2015 22:43 Aerossurance Updated [Source, Narrative]
19-Dec-2015 12:42 Iceman 29 Updated [Embed code]
30-Dec-2015 13:42 Aerossurance Updated [Source]
09-Mar-2021 07:51 Aerossurance Updated [Location, Nature, Embed code]
23-May-2021 14:17 harro Updated [Embed code, Narrative, Accident report]

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