Incident EH Industries Merlin HM.1 (EH101) ZH844,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 70593
 
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Date:Friday 27 October 2000
Time:10:00
Type:Silhouette image of generic EH10 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
EH Industries Merlin HM.1 (EH101)
Owner/operator:Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm
Registration: ZH844
MSN: RN24/50101
Year of manufacture:2000
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Location:near Isle of Skye -   United Kingdom
Phase: En route
Nature:Military
Departure airport:Plockton, Rossshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating: Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources
Narrative:
Ditched into the sea off the Isle of Skye between the village of Plockton in Western Ross and the weapons range on the island of Rona. Caused by a possible partial uncommanded application of the main rotor brake or by it not being fully released by the crew. Smoke was seen by an eyewitness coming from the rotor head but the crew were not alerted until fire broke out.

As bad weather was forecast the crew deliberately deflated the flotation bags to sink the aircraft. This was done to save it being smashed by the weather. However, due to severe undercurrents it was smashed on the rocks on the sea bed. The five crew were rescued from the sea by boat.

ZH844 together with ZH843 were detached to Plockton Airfield to operate in the Inner Sound range. They had only recently been delivered to 700M NAS at Culdrose and ZH844 had only about 20 hours total flying time. It was recovered after approximately two weeks submerged and the small pieces of wreckage were transported to Yeovilton for investigation. Wreck with FSAIU Yeovilton. Scrapped by Bidwell Metals near Bath.

Sources:

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/1016100.stm
2. https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/125028-merlin-crash-3.html
3. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/2002/jan/14/naval-accident
4. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-2000.htm

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
20-Dec-2009 23:00 TB Added
21-Dec-2009 06:24 TB Updated
21-Dec-2009 08:02 TB Updated
02-Feb-2012 10:01 Nepa Updated [Operator, Nature]
17-Mar-2013 17:48 TB Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
24-May-2013 20:02 Dr. John Smith Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
17-Feb-2014 16:03 Nepa Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
12-Oct-2014 18:34 TB Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
12-Jul-2016 11:59 Dr.John Smith Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative]
12-Jul-2016 12:01 Dr.John Smith Updated [Narrative]
22-May-2017 17:15 TB Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source]
13-Mar-2021 10:57 Aerossurance Updated [Departure airport, Source]

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