ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 237692
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| Date: | Wednesday 24 June 2020 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Airbus Helicopters H135 P3H |
| Owner/operator: | ANWB Medical Air Assistance |
| Registration: | PH-TTR |
| MSN: | 2041 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2017 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | Rotterdam/The Hague Airport (RTM/EHRD) -
 Netherlands
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ambulance |
| Departure airport: | Arnhem |
| Rotterdam/The Hague Airport (RTM/EHRD) | |
| Investigating agency: | Dutch Safety Board |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
An Airbus Helicopters H135 air ambulance helicopter, registration PH-TTR, was involved in a serious airprox incident with a Cessna F172N (PH-RES).
The helicopter was on its return from a cancelled callout, to the east of the control zone (CTR) of Rotterdam The Hague Airport. At the time, the radio frequency of the Rotterdam tower was congested due to a large number of flights in the CTR.
Shortly before the helicopter reached the boundary of the CTR, the crew of the helicopter received clearance from the air traffic controller to enter the CTR. The clearance instructed to fly at an altitude of 1,500 AMSL or lower, directly to point Papa, for a visual approach to landing.
In the meantime, the crew of the helicopter was involved in efforts to solve noise disruptions on the helicopter’s intercom.
The Cessna F172N, registration PH-RES, had taken off from runway 06 at Rotterdam The Hague Airport for an instruction flight. The aircraft was cleared for the VFR Mike Departure. On board the aircraft were the captain instructor and a trainee pilot.
Following clearance from the air traffic controller, the air ambulance helicopter descended to approximately 800 feet and set course for point Papa via point Oscar. At the same time, the aircraft on the Mike Departure was flying at 1,000 feet AMSL, and after passing point Oscar turned onto a heading of approximately 080 degrees. At around 3 NM east of point Oscar, the two aircraft came within close vicinity of each other in opposite directions. The helicopter made an evasive manoeuvre to the right; at the same time the aircraft also made an evasive manoeuvre to the right. The aircraft subsequently passed each other at a horizontal separation of approximately 150 metres and a height difference of 200 feet. Following the airprox, the helicopter landed at Rotterdam The Hague Airport, and the aircraft continued its flight in a northeasterly direction.
At the moment of the airprox, the air traffic controller was responsible for two IFR flights and eight VFR flights.
A number of the VFR flights were survey flights and photographic flights that had been present within the CTR for some time. In addition, the fuelling station at the airport was defective, a situation that generated more radio traffic. Moreover, a number of aircraft did not respond swiftly to calls from the air traffic controller.
The weather was suitable for flying under visual flight rules (VFR). The wind was 10 knots from an easterly direction,
visibility was more than 10 kilometres and the only cloud cover being high altitude cirrus.
The air traffic controller had issued the necessary initial clearances to the air ambulance helicopter and the aircraft.
These clearances led to a situation where both aircraft found themselves approaching each other in opposite directions. The controller did not issue any further traffic information about the possible conflict to the aircraft. The air traffic controller indicated that the cause of this omission was the high traffic volume in the CTR and the resultant increased workload
To the east of point Oscar, the helicopter pilot had deliberately opted to fly at 800 feet AMSL, based on his experience in recent days that the area was busy with other VFR traffic flying at 1,000 feet AMSL. This meant he was flying 200 feet below the altitude of the Mike departure. Furthermore, the crew of the helicopter observed no other traffic that could represent a conflict, on the traffic advisory system. However, PH-RES was not indicated on the helicopter’s traffic advisory system. The aircraft transponder was not transmitting any information, because it had been switched to the wrong setting. In addition, just before the airprox, the crew of the helicopter was distracted by an electronic noise on the intercom
system. As a result, their attention was mainly focused inside the helicopter.
Sources:
https://www.onderzoeksraad.nl/en/page/17228/airprox-ec135-p3h-reims-aviation-s.a.-f172n-rotterdam-ctr
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 14 January 2021 | PH-TTR | ANWB Medical Air Assistance | 0 | near the Noorderplassen Almere, Flevoland | |
min |
| Bird strike | ||||||
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 06-Jul-2020 13:59 | harro | Added |
| 06-Jul-2020 14:06 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 21-Dec-2021 20:38 | harro | Updated [Registration, Cn, Operator, Total occupants, Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 13-Jun-2022 20:57 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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