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| Date: | Saturday 7 December 2019 |
| Time: | c 14:50 LT |
| Type: |  OAS Parts (Bell) UH-1H Iroquois |
| Owner/operator: | Touchdown Helicopters opf NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) |
| Registration: | VH-OXI |
| MSN: | 4204 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Crawford River, N of Newcastle, NSW -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Fire fighting |
| Departure airport: | Wauchope, NSW |
| Wauchope, NSW | |
| Investigating agency: | ATSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
OAS Parts LLC / (Bell) UH-1H Iroquois, operating for NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS), made a 'hard landing' and lost both main rotor and main gear box during fire-fighting operations in Crawford River, north of Newcastle, Mid North Coast, New South Wales.
The pilot had detected a tail rotor issue, disconnected the water bucket and commenced a precautionary landing. The helicopter subsequently made a hard landing, resulting in substantial damage. The pilot was uninjured.
The ATSB found that the pilot elected to abort the fire control aerial work and conduct a precautionary landing as a result of the failure of the driveshaft. While attempting to land, the pilot experienced an uncontrollable yaw to the right, resulting in a hard landing and substantial damage to the helicopter when the main rotor blades struck the ground and forcibly ejected the main gearbox, mast, rotors and KAflex® driveshaft from the airframe.
The helicopter’s KAflex® driveshaft, which transmits power from the engine to the main gearbox, failed due to a fatigue crack prior to the hard landing. The driveshaft assembly was missing five washers, which increased the risk of a driveshaft failure.
*The helicopter is registered by CASA with former US Army serial 64-13497
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2019/aair/ao-2019-070/
https://www.9news.com.au/national/nsw-fires-qld-updates-bushfire-emergency-sydney-smoke-air-pollution/69bbf8a9-3ec2-4e4d-84cf-eb51363f35c7
https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/
https://www.casa.gov.au/aircraft-register?search_api_views_fulltext=&vh=OXI&field_ar_serial=
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Flive.staticflickr.com%2F1858%2F29551442667_8fd4d90b8f_c.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.microburbs.com.au%2FNSW%2FSydney-Western-suburbs%2FCity-of-Liverpool%2FHammondville&docid=fJ42egmJg6nBxM&tbnid=Nas1G_I9tlhF1M%3A&vet=12ahUKEwjWvP3516LmAhVSwVkKHS65Afs4ZBAzKC4wLnoECAEQNA..i&w=800&h=533&hl=en-us&client=safari&bih=1133&biw=881&q=helicopter%20number%20229%20nsw%20au&ved=2ahUKEwjWvP3516LmAhVSwVkKHS65Afs4ZBAzKC4wLnoECAEQNA&iact=mrc&uact=8
https://cdn.jetphotos.com/full/5/85022_1570335012.jpg (photo)
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 07-Dec-2019 04:38 | Geno | Added |
| 07-Dec-2019 11:28 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ] |
| 07-Dec-2019 11:29 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ] |
| 07-Dec-2019 11:30 | RobertMB | Updated [Operator, ] |
| 07-Dec-2019 12:46 | Petropavlovsk | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Nature, Source, ] |
| 07-Dec-2019 13:46 | RobertMB | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 07-Dec-2019 15:09 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Narrative, ] |
| 10-Dec-2019 17:40 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Phase, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 16-Jul-2020 07:35 | harro | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
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