ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 17918
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| Date: | Sunday 13 July 1997 |
| Time: | 10:50 |
| Type: |  Agusta-Bell AB 206B |
| Owner/operator: | Kwik-Fit Euro Ltd |
| Registration: | G-FLYR |
| MSN: | 8341 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1972 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Glamis Castle, Forfar, Angus, Scotland -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Taxi |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Glamis Castle, Forfar, Angus, Scotland |
| Glamis Castle, Forfar, Angus, Scotland | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Written off (damaged beyond repair) 13 July 1997 when crashed at Glamis Castle, Forfar, Angus, Scotland. During precautionary landing, due reduced visibility, helicopter contacted wire fence and rolled onto its side. Of the 6 Persons On Board, there was 1 fatality. According to the following extract from the official AAIB report into the accident:
"The 24th Scottish Traffic Extravaganza was held at Glamis Castle on the 13 July 1997. One of the major events planned for the day was to be a series of helicopter flights for children with special needs, and had arrived at the site about 45 minutes earlier. Whilst preparing for departure on the first of a planned series of flights, after passenger loading, as soon as the helicopter's doors were closed, it began to mist up.
The pilot turned on the blower and also used a cloth to wipe the windscreen. After a short while, the pilot believed
that the windscreen was clearing and elected to take-off. However, within about 30 seconds, he realized that the misting of the windscreen was getting worse and after about 1 minute, decided that it was too bad to continue the flight. He therefore decided to return to the show site and broadcast 'I can't see anything, I am returning... I can't see out of the windscreen.'
The pilot subsequently decided that he could not see enough to return and instead decided to land in a nearby field. He put the helicopter into a hover at 4 feet above the selected field, but then noticed a number of cattle close by. The pilot decided to hover taxi at a 'fast walking pace' at a height of between 3 and 4 feet, away from the cattle.
Whilst doing this the helicopter collided with a wire strand fence which the pilot had not seen, tipped onto its nose and then rolled over onto its left side. The pilot undid his own seat belt, and then assisted the passengers to release their seat belts and get out of the helicopter.
The young child who had been seated in the left rear seat was trapped through the door aperture with his upper body underneath the fuselage and despite attempts by the pilot and a local farmer they were unable to lift the helicopter to release him. The farmer, who had arranged for the emergency services to be called when on his way to the crash site, then went for a tractor and loader which could be used to raise the helicopter.
At this stage the first police units arrived and when the helicopter was eventually raised a policeman cut through the seat belt in order to free the young child: previous attempts to release the seat belt had been unsuccessful. Attempts were made to resuscitate the child but to no avail."
The accident happened in daylight (10:50 hours) but in poor weather with a 600 feet overcast cloud base and visibility of 5 km in rain. The passengers of the helicopter were wet and the relative humidity was high (probably more than 90%). The use of the helicopter had been donated free of any charge and was operating in a Private capacity".
According to contemporary press reports (see link #4) the victim was later named as Gary Malley, aged 9, from Dundee.
Presumably written off (damaged beyond repair) as registration G-FLYR cancelled by the CAA as aircraft "destroyed" 22 December 1997
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f478ed915d13740004e1/dft_avsafety_pdf_501020.pdf
2. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=FLYR
3. http://www.griffin-helicopters.co.uk/accidentdetails.aspx?accidentkey=3570
4. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/boy-dies-in-helicopter-crash-at-charity-event-1250621.html
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/158299.stm
6. https://www.prweek.com/article/98965/pr-battle-takes-off-charity-helicopter-crash
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 11:10 | ASN archive | Added |
| 07-Dec-2010 14:23 | harro | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 26-May-2013 18:55 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 01-Apr-2015 21:17 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 18-Jun-2016 22:36 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Time, Source, Narrative] |
| 18-Jun-2016 22:39 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
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