Accident Robinson R22 VH-NWJ, Thursday 27 July 1989

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Date:	Thursday 27 July 1989
Time:	07:45
Type:	Robinson R22
Owner/operator:
Registration:	VH-NWJ
MSN:	0322
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Category:	Accident
Location:	10km S of Mareeba, QLD - Australia
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:	Mareeba, QLD
Destination airport:	Lyndhurst Station, QLD
Investigating agency:	BASI
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
For the ferry flight, the pilot placed an overnight bag on the passenger seat, leaned a swag and fuel pump against the seat and secured the lot with the seat belt. His pre-flight control checks revealed that full control travel was available for the collective and cyclic controls. During the climb the swag slipped and came to rest against the cyclic control. At this stage it was not causing any control interference. The pilot intended to fly past the lee side of a mountain and found that the swag was now restricting movement of the cyclic pitch control. The seat belt was unfastened to reposition the swag. At the same time, the helicopter encountered some turbulence. The swag fell onto the collective pitch control lever, pushing it nearly all the way down. The helicopter descended out of control with both the cyclic and collective controls fouled. The pilot managed to regain partial control just before impact and, following the heavy landing, rolled the helicopter into a steeply sloping rock face. The pilot commented later that the critical point in the scenario was reached when he unlatched the seat belt to fix an annoying, but not serious problem at an inappropriate time. This accident was not the subject of a formal on scene investigation.

Accident investigation: