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| Date: | Thursday 31 March 2022 |
| Time: | 09:36 |
| Type: |  Airbus Helicopters H130 |
| Owner/operator: | Microflite |
| Registration: | VH-XWD |
| MSN: | 8345 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2017 |
| Engine model: | Safran Helicopter Engines ARRIEL 2D |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Mount Disappointment, VIC -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Melbourne-Yarra Batman Park heliport, VIC |
| Ulupna Island, Tocumwal, NSW | |
| Investigating agency: | ATSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
In the morning, VH-XWD departed the Batman Park heliport on a charter flight to Tocumwal, with the pilot and 4 passengers on board. Another helicopter from Microflite was also conducting the same flight in company. While en route, the pilot of the second helicopter lost contact with VH-XWD and notified their company. Soon after, a search and rescue operation was commenced. VH-XWD was subsequently located around midday, having collided with terrain near Mount Disappointment. The pilot and passengers sustained fatal injuries, and the helicopter was destroyed.
Contributing factors
• The pilots of the two helicopters selected a route that was forecast to be unsuitable for visual flight. This was based on an incorrect assessment of the weather before and while in-flight.
• The pilots of both helicopters continued flight towards deteriorating cloud and into reduced visual cues, below the required visual meteorological conditions. These conditions were consistent with the area forecast for the Mount Disappointment area.
• While conducting a 180 degree turn without visual cues to exit from instrument meteorological conditions, the pilot could not maintain adequate control of the pitch attitude of the helicopter, which resulted in the development of a high rate of descent and collision with terrain.
• The pilot was not trained to fly the helicopter by sole reference to the instruments and almost certainly did not have any instrument flying experience, nor was it required by the regulations.
• The helicopter was not equipped with an autopilot or stability augmentation system, nor was it required to be. This equipment would have reduced the risk of a loss of control when the pilot attempted to exit from instrument meteorological conditions.
• Microflite had not published an inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions (IIMC) recovery procedure for their day visual flight rules pilots and their IIMC recovery training was not mandatory, nor were they required by the regulations. The provision of this procedure and training would have reduced the risk of a loss of attitude control following an IIMC encounter. (Safety issue)
• The Microflite Operator Proficiency Checks did not include a mandatory instrument flight component for their day visual flight rules pilots, nor was it required by the regulations. This would have reduced the risk of a loss of control event following an inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions encounter. (Safety issue)
• Microflite did not provide, nor require, their pilots to complete a pre-flight risk assessment for their taskings. A pre-flight risk assessment would have provided pre-defined criteria to ensure consistent and objective decision-making and reduced the risk of them selecting an inappropriate route. (Safety issue)
• The Microflite air transport operations risk assessment for poor weather conditions did not consider the risk controls required for inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions. Rather, it relied on their pilots using the actual or forecast conditions to cancel their operations to manage the threat of poor weather. (Safety issue)
• The Civil Aviation Safety Authority's Part 133 (air transport - rotorcraft) exposition requirements did not adequately address the risk to passenger safety from a visual flight rules inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions event. (Safety issue)
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/five-people-killed-after-helicopter-crashes-in-victoria/news-story/433320ededa113411a2c4ca3c03722c2
https://www.9news.com.au/national/aircraft-incident-victoria-fears-helicopter-crashed-in-mount-disappointment-with-passengers-on-board/0c243728-82bc-4cdf-a0ae-7c1b540a8b83
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/mergency-services-searching-for-five-on-boardmissing-helicopter-in-victoria/blw9syert
https://neweysnews.co.uk/rescuers-winched-in-to-helicopter-crash-site-near-mt-disappointment/
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/01/abattoir-boss-identified-as-one-of-five-killed-in-mt-disappointment-helicopter-crash
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-31/helicopter-boss-gives-a-statement-following-fatal-crash/13821654
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2022/aair/ao-2022-016/
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHXWD/history/20220330/2010Z/YMMB/L%20-37.43547%20145.18536
https://cdn.jetphotos.com/full/6/61272_1640258060.jpg (photo)
Location
Media:
Five people are feared to have been killed in one of Victoria's worst air disasters, after a helicopter crashed near Mount Disappointment, north of Melbourne. https://t.co/bd8AOUzdnk @cassiezervos @emma_os #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/gjRSANNkx1
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) March 31, 2022
A helicopter is missing, feared crashed, at Mount Disappointment north of Melbourne. It had been flying in convoy with another chopper when it vanished this morning, sparking an urgent search. @cassiezervos with the latest. https://t.co/5DZzP8zcAR #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/hQ0uafu3Jo
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) March 31, 2022
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 31-Mar-2022 06:14 | gerard57 | Added |
| 31-Mar-2022 06:33 | gerard57 | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 06:56 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Source, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 07:06 | Aerossurance | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 07:07 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Source, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 07:08 | Aerossurance | Updated [Embed code, Narrative, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 07:08 | Aerossurance | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Embed code, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 07:20 | harro | Updated [Nature, Departure airport, Narrative, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 08:04 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Source, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 09:03 | RobertMB | Updated [Total fatalities, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 09:11 | harro | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 10:47 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Embed code, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 12:32 | Anon. | Updated [Registration, Cn, Source, Embed code, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 12:32 | harro | Updated [Time, Category, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 12:35 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 12:36 | harro | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 14:34 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 31-Mar-2022 17:04 | PolandMoment | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 02-Apr-2022 08:25 | Aerossurance | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Nature, Source, ] |
| 05-Apr-2022 12:23 | Captain Adam | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 06-Apr-2022 05:40 | harro | Updated [Destination airport, ] |
| 17-Apr-2022 14:56 | Aerossurance | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 06-Mar-2025 12:34 | Aerossurance | Updated |
| 06-Mar-2025 12:37 | ASN | Updated |
| 06-Mar-2025 12:37 | ASN | Updated |
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