ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 17937
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| Date: | Wednesday 7 December 1994 |
| Time: | 15:00 LT |
| Type: |  Eurocopter AS 350B2 Ecureuil |
| Owner/operator: | PLM Helicopters Ltd |
| Registration: | G-PLMG |
| MSN: | 2513 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1991 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Ballachulish, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | External load operation |
| Departure airport: | Inverness Dalcross Airport (INV/EGPE) |
| Ballachulish, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Crashed during under slung load operations at Ballaculish, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, on 7-12-1994; two fatalities, aircraft destroyed. According to the following extract from the official AAIB report into the accident:
"3 lifting tasks planned at separate destinations. Pilot had carried out 31 lifts in approximately 2 hours, earlier that morning. 12 further lifts carried out at second destination. Whilst positioning to Ballachulish, for third task of delivering animal feed, as the helicopter came over a ridge and into the valley leading towards its destination, witnesses suddenly saw something fall away from it. Almost immediately after this the helicopter pitched steeply nose down and spiralled into the ground from a height of about 300 to 400 feet. The wreckage of the helicopter was contained in a single area except for the rearmost part of the tail boom, which, with both vertical stabilisers still attached, was found some 400 metres away, back, down the helicopter's path.
The helicopter had been positioning with its under-slung load strap and hook trailing empty beneath it. Witness marks on the tail rotor and the hook subsequently showed that the trailing hook had flown up into the tail rotor. The reason why the relatively stable empty hook should have done this could not be determined with any certainty.
However, marks on the hook were consistent with a recent rock strike and it is therefore believed that the hook had struck the top of the ridge as the helicopter came over into the valley and been sent flying upwards. The accident
happened in daylight but in poor weather with a scattered, occasionally broken, cloud base at around 2,000 feet but lower down onto the tops of the hills in some places. The surface wind was 240 degrees, prevailing winds at 20 to 25 knots, gusting 35 to 40 knots. Severe turbulence would have been experienced in the hills"
Damage sustained to airframe: Per the AAIB report "aircraft destroyed". As a result, the registration G-PLMG was cancelled by the CAA on 8-3-1995 as "destroyed"
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. Flight International 20-26 Sept 1995 p.51 at https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1995/1995%20-%202704.PDF
2. AAIB: https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/5422f71940f0b613420005cf/Aerospatiale_AS350B2_Ecureuil__G-PLMG_03-95.pdf
3. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=PLMG
4. http://www.griffin-helicopters.co.uk/accidentdetails.aspx?accidentkey=14740
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 11:10 | ASN archive | Added |
| 19-Jan-2011 08:41 | harro | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 12-Oct-2012 16:08 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 03-Jun-2013 20:33 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Embed code] |
| 01-Jun-2016 20:21 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Location, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 01-Jun-2016 20:24 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Source] |
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