ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 70593
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| Date: | 27-OCT-2000 |
| Time: | 10:00 |
| Type: |  EH Industries Merlin HM.1 (EH101) |
| Owner/operator: | Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm |
| Registration: | ZH844 |
| MSN: | RN24/50101 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | near Isle of Skye -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Plockton, Rossshire |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
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/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 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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