ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 175608
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| Date: | Wednesday 22 April 2015 |
| Time: | 16:05 LT |
| Type: |  Bell UH-1H Iroquois |
| Owner/operator: | Working on fire (WOF) FFA Assets Pty Ltd |
| Registration: | ZU-UHI |
| MSN: | 13729 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1974 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Bainskloof near Wellington in the Western Cape -
 South Africa
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Fire fighting |
| Departure airport: | Tulbagh Forestry Station |
| Bains’s Kloof Pass area | |
| Investigating agency: | CAA S.A. |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot, accompanied by a helicopter safety lead (HSL) (assisting to secure the bambi bucket), took off from Tulbagh Forestry Station for a fire-fighting operation in the Bain’s Kloof Pass area. According to the eye witness the incident commander (IC) there was a truck approaching on the R301 from Wellington, which was successfully stopped at a safe from the temporary landing zone on which the helicopter intended to land. At the time, the helicopter’s approach was uneventful and it hovered at a distance of 50 m before the temporary landing zone which was used by ZS-HBU on the R301 regional road. The spotter pilot reported that he saw the helicopter pitching up a few metres and rolled to the left with its tail low. The helicopter’s main rotor blades made contact with terrain before it crashed and came to rest on its left-hand side.
The helicopter was destroyed by impact forces, post impact fire (which was successful extinguished by the other helicopter and ground fire fighters) and later on by the veld fire.
Probable Cause/s
The helicopter’s main rotor blades made contact with the terrain during an attempt to abort the landing resulting in a loss of control and crashed.
Contributory
a) A cross wind component of 12-15kt, and
b) Loss of tail rotor effectiveness.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/helicopter-crashes-cape-winelands-killing-two
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/tributes-pour-cape-helicopter-crew
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/wof-pays-tribute-to-chopper-crew-1.1849623#.VTkVF9ysXwk
http://fireaviation.com/2015/04/24/two-firefighters-die-in-south-africa-helicopter-crash/
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/fire-chopper-crash-kills-two-1.1849184#.VTu0ucVwbIU
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 25 January 2007 | ZU–UHI | FFA Assets (Pty) Ltd | 0 | In a farm dam on the farm Orchards near de Doorns | |
sub |
| Ditching | ||||||
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-Apr-2015 18:16 | gerard57 | Added |
| 22-Apr-2015 18:16 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 23-Apr-2015 16:14 | Iceman29 | Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative] |
| 23-Apr-2015 16:58 | Anon. | Updated [Registration] |
| 24-Apr-2015 08:23 | paulm7010 | Updated [Cn, Operator] |
| 25-Apr-2015 15:40 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Source, Narrative] |
| 14-Mar-2018 19:46 | harro | Updated [Time, Total occupants, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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