ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 58507
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| Date: | Saturday 22 January 2005 |
| Time: | 12:42 LT |
| Type: |  Bell 206B-3 JetRanger III |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | G-BXLI |
| MSN: | 4041 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1989 |
| Engine model: | Allison 250-C20J |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 5 nm south of Taunton, Somerset -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Staverton, (EGBJ) |
| Torbay, Devon | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot had planned to fly with some friends from Staverton Airport, near Gloucester, to a private landing site in the Torbay area but, due to deteriorating weather, landed at Topsham to the south of Exeter Airport. After a period of several hours, the weather had not improved so the pilot decided to return to Staverton. Although on the outbound trip he had routed south via the Bristol Channel and the M5 corridor, an area of low lying terrain, he elected to return to Staverton via Sidmouth, and communicated this to Exeter ATC, advising them that he would be flying at an altitude of 900 feet.
As he approached Sidmouth, he then informed Exeter that he was going to go north towards Wellington and Taunton. This route would take the helicopter over the Blackdown Hills, which rise to a height of some 1,000 ft amsl. Witnesses in an area approximately 5 nautical miles south of Taunton generally heard, but did not clearly see, a low flying helicopter and one heard a ‘bang’.
A subsequent search and rescue effort failed to locate the helicopter, due to very poor weather conditions, and it was found by a dog walker the following morning. All four occupants had received fatal injuries in the accident. No pre-accident defects were found during the wreckage examination.
The investigation concluded that the helicopter’s flight path angle was some 26 degrees down just before it crashed. The combination of the aircraft’s estimated forward speed of 30 to 40 knots and this angle, would result in a rate of descent of approximately 1,500 feet per minute. This suggests that either the pilot was attempting to regain visual contact with the ground or, possibly, that he was aware that the north side of the Blackdown Hills are steep sided and believed that the helicopter was sufficiently far north to be able to descend through cloud to become visual with the ground over lower lying terrain.
This is one of 8 accidents that resulted in an EASA rule making team on in-flight recording for light aircraft.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422feb4e5274a1314000963/G-BXLI_1-06.pdf
2. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=BXLI
3. http://www.bellhelicopter.com/en/support/flightsafety/pdf/destroyed.pdf
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4923240.stm
5. http://www.helicoptersafety.org/genericaccident.asp?ACType=B206
6. http://aerossurance.com/helicopters/easa-launch-rule-rumaking-team-flight-recording-light-aircraft/
7. https://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/160302-jet-ranger-down.html
8. http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/helicopter-crashed-in-bad-weather---21767
9. http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/factor200608.pdf
.
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Jan-2009 11:34 | harro | Added |
| 22-Sep-2012 19:21 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 02-Aug-2014 14:04 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source] |
| 03-Aug-2014 07:24 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 03-Dec-2014 21:24 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 25-Oct-2015 14:17 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 08-Aug-2016 19:50 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Source] |
| 08-Aug-2016 19:50 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Source] |
| 08-Aug-2016 19:53 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 25-Sep-2016 16:45 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Narrative] |
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