Accident Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk NA-706,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 205741
 
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Date:Monday 5 February 2018
Time:23:52 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic H60 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk
Owner/operator:National Airborne Service Corps (NASC)
Registration: NA-706
MSN: 12-27294
Fatalities:Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Category:Accident
Location:offshore between Orchid Island and SE Taiwan -   Taiwan
Phase: Initial climb
Nature:Ambulance
Departure airport:Orchid Island Airport (KYD/RCLY)
Destination airport:Taitung Airport (TTT/RCFN)
Investigating agency: TTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
The National Airborne Service Corp. of Taiwan conducted an emergency medical service flight with a Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter, registration number NA-706. The helicopter carried 1 patient, 1 family member of the patient, 2 flight crewmembers, 1 mechanic and 1 nurse. At 23:49, the helicopter took off from Lanyu Airport to Taitung (Feng Nien) Airport and lost contact with the control tower less than two minutes later, while over sea.

23-Mar-2018: Salvaging the wreckage of a UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter that crashed last month while transporting a patient from Orchid Island could take two to three months. The wreckage was located 1,000m below sea level and special equipment is needed for such a recovery operation.

It is reported the aircraft encountered turbulence, the autopilot disconnected, the aircraft slowly pitched up, lost speed and crashed into the sea.

The TTSB concluded that:

The flight crew’s threat management, situation awareness, communication and decision-making capabilities as well as the understanding of the aircraft system were not sufficient. They did not choose the appropriate takeoff mode at takeoff under the night circumstance and unsteady wind condition.

During the take-off process, [the helicopter] failed to maintain a safe climbing attitude and speed, and in the event of turbulent flow, it was not possible to immediately interpret the aircraft attitude and maintain the control correctly, and may [have been] accompanied by the phenomenon of space disorientation.

Finally, when the Pilot Flying pitched down the aircraft at low altitude to correct the low airspeed, both of the flight crew were not paying attention to the low altitude, resulted in the aircraft controlled flight into the sea.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: TTSB
Report number: 
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 1 year and 7 months
Download report: Final report

Sources:

http://www.janes.com/article/77650/taiwanese-black-hawk-medevac-helicopter-goes-missing
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2018/02/07/2003687208
https://skrzydla.org/photo-Sikorsky-UH-60M-Blackhawk-177915
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201802080039.aspx
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/03/23/2003689869
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201811120005.aspx
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201811120003.aspx
https://www.asc.gov.tw/main_en/docDetail.aspx?uid=318&pid=318&docid=955
https://www.asc.gov.tw/main_en/docDetail.aspx?uid=318&pid=298&docid=959
https://www.asc.gov.tw/upload/acd_att/NA-706%20%20factual%20report.pdf (in Chinese)
http://aerossurance.com/helicopters/taiwan-night-takeoff-accident
https://www.ttsb.gov.tw/media/2794/ttsb-aor-19-09-001.pdf (in Chinese)

Media:

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
06-Feb-2018 18:27 Rumbachtaler Added
06-Feb-2018 23:21 Geno Updated [Registration, Operator, Source]
08-Feb-2018 18:37 harro Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
08-Feb-2018 21:35 Aerossurance Updated [Location, Source]
22-Mar-2018 16:41 Iceman 29 Updated [Source, Narrative]
28-Mar-2018 19:58 Aerossurance Updated [Time, Operator, Phase, Source, Damage, Narrative]
12-Nov-2018 20:59 Aerossurance Updated [Source, Narrative]
12-Nov-2018 21:43 Aerossurance Updated [Source]
12-Nov-2018 22:06 Aerossurance Updated [Narrative]
02-Nov-2019 20:12 Aerossurance Updated [Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
05-Feb-2021 08:22 Aerossurance Updated [Location, Embed code, Narrative]
05-Jun-2021 14:36 harro Updated [Embed code, Accident report]
12-Nov-2023 15:55 harro Updated [Cn, Other fatalities]

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