ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 204578
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| Date: | Wednesday 17 January 2018 |
| Time: | 18:30 LT |
| Type: |  Robinson R44 |
| Owner/operator: | Professional Helicopter Services |
| Registration: | VH-HGX |
| MSN: | 0762 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2000 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 5 km south of Ayers Rock Airport, NT -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Ayers Rock, NT |
| Ayers Rock, NT | |
| Investigating agency: | ATSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Following a loss of engine power shortly after takeoff, the helicopter experienced a force landing to sand dune terrain and subsequent rollover. The aircraft sustained substantial damage and the four occupants onboard were injured, three seriously, and taken to hospitals.
Contributing factors:
- During take-off, the helicopter's rotor RPM steadily decayed due to a likely limited opening of the engine throttle, which resulted in the engine power produced being less than the power required. The reason for the limited opening of the throttle could not be determined.
- Following activation of the low rotor RPM warning, the pilot initially did not apply full throttle and lower the collective lever to avoid a climb, which resulted in the rotor RPM decaying further to a level from which the pilot could not recover.
- While attempting a forced landing, the rotor RPM decayed to an extent that the pilot was unable to arrest the rate of descent sufficiently to prevent a hard landing, resulting in serious injuries to the occupants.
Other factors that increased risk:
- The pilot had inadvertently adopted a practice of running the engine up manually with the governor off during passenger transfers, which increased the risk of an inoperative governor not being detected prior to take-off.
- Professional Helicopter Services did not have a calibration schedule for their passenger scales, which were under-reading. This increased the risk of their helicopters not achieving their expected take-off performance. [Safety Issue]
- The Robinson R44 pilot’s operating handbook low rotor RPM recovery procedure did not include reference to the minimum power airspeed for the helicopter as a consideration, which may assist a pilot to recover from a low rotor RPM condition. [Safety Issue]
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-17/helicopter-crashes-near-uluru-with-four-people-on-board/9337446
https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/01/17/22/31/helicopter-crash-west-of-yulara-near-uluru
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-18/uluru-crash-helicopter-rolled-down-sand-dune-after-losing-power/9338342
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2018/aair/ao-2018-006/
Images:
Media:
WATCH: Two of the four people who survived a helicopter crash at Uluru have been flown to Adelaide for treatment. #9News pic.twitter.com/aKOnF88wJI
— Nine News Adelaide (@9NewsAdel) 18 janvier 2018
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Jan-2018 12:31 | gerard57 | Added |
| 17-Jan-2018 13:25 | gerard57 | Updated [Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Source, Narrative] |
| 17-Jan-2018 15:11 | Anon. | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 17-Jan-2018 16:17 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location] |
| 18-Jan-2018 05:33 | Geno | Updated [Operator, Phase, Nature, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 18-Jan-2018 10:42 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Embed code] |
| 18-Jan-2018 10:47 | Pineapple | Updated [Registration, Cn, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source] |
| 18-Jan-2018 11:42 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Embed code] |
| 07-Oct-2020 09:52 | harro | Updated [Location, Embed code, Narrative, Category, Accident report, Photo] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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