Date:	Saturday 12 September 1998
Time:	12:15 LT
Type:	Aérospatiale AS 350B Ecureuil
Owner/operator:	Aero Asahi Corporation
Registration:	JA9306
MSN:	1515
Year of manufacture:	1981
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Yokoteyama, Takayama-mura, Kamitakai District, Nagano Prefecture -   Japan
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Agricultural
Departure airport:	Yamanouchi, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Written off (damaged beyond repair) 12 September 1998 when crashed at Takayama-mura, Kamitakai District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan (at approximate coordinates: 36°41′N 138°22′E). During agricultural (crop-spraying/top dressing) operations, the underslung load hit a ridge and was flung up into the tail rotor, which caused loss of control and the helicopter to crash. The 44-year-old male pilot (the sole person on board) was killed.

Per a rough translation of the official accident report from Japanese into English: "The (rotary wing aircraft), crashed on September 12, 1998, during in-flight spraying of solutions on a landside, at Nagano Prefecture, Kamitakai Takayama Yokoteyama, Aero Asahi Corporation Aerospatiale AS350B JA9306. At around 12:15, the helicopter crashed on the slopes of Yokoteyama hillside. Only the captain was on board the aircraft, but he died. The aircraft was badly damaged, but there was no fire."

Registration JA9306 cancelled 12 October 1998 as "destroyed"

1. https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1999/1999?search=JA9306
2. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://coptercrazy.brinkster.net/search/se350show.asp?start=501&count=50]
3. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://jtsb.mlit.go.jp/jtsb/aircraft/download/html/99-2-JA9306.html] [Japanese text]
4. http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/朝日航洋 (wkikpedia japan: Aero Ashai - Accidents & Incidents) [Japanese Text]
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takayama,_Nagano

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
26-Sep-2010 13:22	TB	Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Country, Damage]
06-Jul-2014 14:20	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]