Date:	Monday 5 February 2018
Time:	23:52 LT
Type:	Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk
Owner/operator:	National Airborne Service Corps (NASC)
Registration:	NA-706
MSN:	12-27294
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	offshore between Orchid Island and SE Taiwan -   Taiwan
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Ambulance
Departure airport:	Orchid Island Airport (KYD/RCLY)
Destination airport:	Taitung Airport (TTT/RCFN)
Investigating agency:	TTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The National Airborne Service Corp. of Taiwan conducted an emergency medical service flight with a Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter, registration number NA-706. The helicopter carried 1 patient, 1 family member of the patient, 2 flight crewmembers, 1 mechanic and 1 nurse. At 23:49, the helicopter took off from Lanyu Airport to Taitung (Feng Nien) Airport and lost contact with the control tower less than two minutes later, while over sea.

23-Mar-2018: Salvaging the wreckage of a UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter that crashed last month while transporting a patient from Orchid Island could take two to three months. The wreckage was located 1,000m below sea level and special equipment is needed for such a recovery operation.

It is reported the aircraft encountered turbulence, the autopilot disconnected, the aircraft slowly pitched up, lost speed and crashed into the sea.

The TTSB concluded that:

The flight crew’s threat management, situation awareness, communication and decision-making capabilities as well as the understanding of the aircraft system were not sufficient. They did not choose the appropriate takeoff mode at takeoff under the night circumstance and unsteady wind condition.

During the take-off process, [the helicopter] failed to maintain a safe climbing attitude and speed, and in the event of turbulent flow, it was not possible to immediately interpret the aircraft attitude and maintain the control correctly, and may [have been] accompanied by the phenomenon of space disorientation.

Finally, when the Pilot Flying pitched down the aircraft at low altitude to correct the low airspeed, both of the flight crew were not paying attention to the low altitude, resulted in the aircraft controlled flight into the sea.

http://www.janes.com/article/77650/taiwanese-black-hawk-medevac-helicopter-goes-missing
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2018/02/07/2003687208
https://skrzydla.org/photo-Sikorsky-UH-60M-Blackhawk-177915
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201802080039.aspx
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/03/23/2003689869
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201811120005.aspx
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201811120003.aspx
https://www.asc.gov.tw/main_en/docDetail.aspx?uid=318&pid=318&docid=955
https://www.asc.gov.tw/main_en/docDetail.aspx?uid=318&pid=298&docid=959
https://www.asc.gov.tw/upload/acd_att/NA-706%20%20factual%20report.pdf (in Chinese)
http://aerossurance.com/helicopters/taiwan-night-takeoff-accident
https://www.ttsb.gov.tw/media/2794/ttsb-aor-19-09-001.pdf (in Chinese)

#OTD in 2018 UH-60M #Helicopter Loss of Control In-flight, high descent rate and water impact during a night medevac.https://t.co/PJyLMEljQU #accident #flightsafety #aviationsafety pic.twitter.com/ewWnUqnf1X

— Aerossurance (@Aerossurance) February 5, 2021

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Feb-2018 18:27	Rumbachtaler	Added
06-Feb-2018 23:21	Geno	Updated [Registration, Operator, Source, ]
08-Feb-2018 18:37	harro	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ]
08-Feb-2018 21:35	Aerossurance	Updated [Location, Source, ]
22-Mar-2018 16:41	Iceman 29	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
28-Mar-2018 19:58	Aerossurance	Updated [Time, Operator, Phase, Source, Damage, Narrative, ]
12-Nov-2018 20:59	Aerossurance	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
12-Nov-2018 21:43	Aerossurance	Updated [Source, ]
12-Nov-2018 22:06	Aerossurance	Updated [Narrative, ]
02-Nov-2019 20:12	Aerossurance	Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
05-Feb-2021 08:22	Aerossurance	Updated [Location, Embed code, Narrative, ]
05-Jun-2021 14:36	harro	Updated [Embed code, Accident report, ]
12-Nov-2023 15:55	harro	Updated [Cn, Other fatalities, ]