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| Date: | Saturday 23 November 2024 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Airbus Helicopters H145 |
| Owner/operator: | Babcock MCS France, opf SAMU |
| Registration: | F-HSOC |
| MSN: | 9300 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Montanel -
 France
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Ambulance |
| Departure airport: | Helistation de l'hôpital de Rennes |
| Montanel | |
| Investigating agency: | BEA |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On landing, the tail rotor struck an obstacle.
Before departing to the emergency response site, the crew had identified three areas for landing: two fields and a paved area. During the reconnaissance, the pilot quickly discarded the two fields in favour of the paved area. This area was circumscribed by a bank and a barrier making it confined with respect to the dimensions of the helicopter. The crew did not consider the barrier, situated outside the touchdown area, as a hazard for landing on the road’s axis.
The pilot then wanted to turn the helicopter into a suitable direction with respect to the slope of the landing area and, according to his statement, to allow the stretcher to be loaded on board. In hover, the pilot started rotating the helicopter to the left-hand side around the yaw axis without making a safety call and without discussing this with the technical crew member. According to their statements, they were focused on the bank on their left-hand side.
At the end of the yaw rotation of the helicopter, the tail rotor collided, in the area of the barrier, with an obstacle or hard object, which may have been ejected and that the investigation was not able to identify, resulting in particular, in the destruction of the tail rotor blades.
The pilot then lost yaw control and the helicopter started a right-hand turn. The pilot immediately touched down, using the collective pitch lever, to stop the rotation before putting the engines into idle. The landing was firm given the damage observed on the helicopter.
Contributing factors
The following factors may have contributed to the tail rotor striking an obstacle or object during the yaw rotation in hover, in a confined area:
o operational pressure stemming partly from the time pressure felt by the pilot, linked to the condition of the victims to be transported, and partly from the constraints imposed by the work of the medical personnel, in particular facilitating the loading of the stretcher on board;
o insufficient communication between the two crew members, who did not mention the presence of certain obstacles nor did they verbalise the safety checks before the yaw rotation in hover. The habit of flying together in the period leading up to the accident may have led to the simplification of certain technical calls.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://bea.aero/en/investigation-reports/notified-events/detail/accident-to-the-airbus-h145-registered-f-hsoc-on-23-11-2024-at-montanel/
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 29-Nov-2024 10:00 | ASN | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Country, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
| 26-Sep-2025 17:50 | ASN | Updated [Narrative, Accident report, ] |
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