Tourist Helicopter Crash Kills Four

September 14, 2008

Tourist Helicopter Crash Kills Four

Tourist / Sightseeing chopper crash kills in Australia. Four people - three of them believed to be tourists - are dead after a helicopter crashed in the Bungle Bungle ranges in Western Australia’s remote Kimberley region. The 40-year-old pilot and three women - one thought to be aged 19 and the other two 20 - were killed when the helicopter went down during a scenic flight to the Purnululu National Park yesterday afternoon. The helicopter burst into flames when it crashed 10km from the Bellburn air strip in the national park, near the Argyle diamond mine.  The crash sparked a bushfire that built into a blaze with a 1km-long front.  Bellburn airstrip, where the helicopter went down, is a bush camp in the park about 55km by air from the township of Warnum, which is also known as Turkey Creek.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is investigating this tragic helicopter crash. This crash comes seven months after two people died when a light plane collided with a helicopter over Western Australia’s Gascoyne region. The collision occurred as the two aircraft were conducting a feral goat culling program in the Kennedy Range National Park, 170km east of Carnarvon.

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September 11, 2007

Bell 206B Copter Crash in Florida

Two Killed in Florida Helicopter Crash

On September 11, 2007, a Bell 206B registered to Biscayne Helicopter Inc. and operated by Southland Helicopters impacted into the ocean near Nokomis, Florida.  The commercial-rated pilot of the Bell 206B received serious injuries and two passengers received fatal injuries. The Bell helicopter was destroyed. The helicopter flight originated from the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport, Sarasota, Florida, earlier that day, about 0840.

A witnesses on a boat stated that the helicopter was being used to take photos of the racing boat he was piloting for a boating magazine. The helicopter was flying at about seven to ten feet off the water, about 100 yards in front of and to the left of the boat. They were traveling about 85 mph. The helicopter was flying pretty much straight ahead, but maybe crabbing about 5 degrees so that the right door was a little more visible.

The pilot was flying the helicopter from the right seat. One of the passengers was in the left front seat and the other passenger, the photographer, was taking pictures out the right rear door opening, sort of leaning out the door. The photographer is usually connected to a harness strap attached to the inside of the helicopter. We were traveling directly into a very mild head wind of 5 mph or less.

The seas were calm and nearly flat, especially closer to shore. As he was following the helicopter with the boat, it (the helicopter) seemed to get a little lower in altitude, which I felt, was lower than I had ever seen it. Then it rose back up slightly and immediately started descending until it hit the water. It seemed almost as if it glided in at consistent angle; it appeared that the first contact with the water was the front radius section of the right skid. Immediately, the helicopter tumbled vertically to where the bottom of the aircraft was seen for a split second.

The helicopter then disintegrated violently and immediately with water, parts and debris flying into the path of the boat which was still traveling at a speed of about 85 mph. He instinctively turned the boat to the right and ducked down. The passenger, in the boat with him, also ducked as they passed through the flying debris and wreckage. He recalled the sound of pieces of the helicopter hitting the boat as they passed. At this point they were already turning in a clockwise direction. They continued in the circle 270 degrees back to where the helicopter had crashed. He pulled up just seaward of the debris field, put the boat in neutral and shut of the motors.

The witness called 911 on the cell phone at 10 AM; according to the call log in his cell phone. He reported a helicopter crash in the Gulf of Mexico south or outside of Big Pass. He was actually not aware that they were as close to Venice as they were.

The helicopter’s top section, instrument panels, engine, transmission, dive shaft, tail boom, bottom section, skids, and rotor head with sections of the main rotor blades were recovery from under the water, relative to the point of impact. The damage to the recovered components was consistent with a high speed impact. The helicopter’s four doors were retrieved; they were removed and left at the fix base operations facility from where the helicopter departed from before the accident flight.

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August 11, 2006

Sabino Canyon Helicopter Crash

Helicopter Crash in Sabino Canyon Area Kills One

An air photo helicopter from out of state crashed near Sabino Canyon Thursday.

There were two people on board, the pilot, and a photographer taking pictures of the Tucson area.

It happened around 9:00 Thursday morning in Box Camp Canyon, just East of Sabino Canyon.

The pilot, Brandon Hahaj, directed rescue crews to the crash site.

He apparently hiked to a visible area and used his cell phone to tell rescuers where he was.

Deputy Nicole Feldt with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department told News 4, “He actually was telling the 911 dispatcher, ‘Hey they just passed me, make a u-turn, I’m over here,’ and actually guided them right to where he was by waving his shirt ion the air to them to attract their attention.”

Hahaj stayed overnight Thursday at University Medical Center for observation. We’re told he has non-life threatening injuries.

His passenger did not survive the crash.

Authorities say the chopper is an air photo helicopter and the pair was visiting Sabino Canyon taking aerial pictures when they crashed in Box Camp Canyon.

Trams and hiking trails in Sabino Canyon, a popular recreation area that is part of the Coronado National Forest, were closed temporarily to visitor activity because of the crash.

The canyon was closed last week because of damage caused by runoff from summer storms but had reopened this week.

SOURCE: KVOA

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June 3, 2006

Juneau Sightseeing Helicopter Crash

Poor Lighting Suspected in Juneau Helicopter Crash 

JUNEAU — Poor visibility may have contributed to the crash of a sightseeing helicopter on the Mendenhall Glacier. Three passengers on board received what officials said were minor injuries in the crash Wednesday of a Coastal Helicopters Bell 206. (June 3, 2006)

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September 20, 2003

Helicopter Collides with Grand Canyon Wall

On September 20, 2003, about 1238 mountain standard time, an Aerospatiale AS350BA helicopter, N270SH, operated by Sundance Helicopters, Inc., crashed into a canyon wall while maneuvering through Descent Canyon, about 1.5 nautical miles (nm) east of Grand Canyon West Airport (1G4) in Arizona. The pilot and all six passengers on board were killed, and the helicopter was destroyed by impact forces and postcrash fire. The air tour sightseeing flight was operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed for the flight, which was operated under visual flight rules on a company flight plan. The sightseeing / tourist helicopter was transporting passengers from a helipad at 1G4 (helipad elevation 4,775 feet mean sea level [msl]) near the upper rim of the Grand Canyon to a helipad designated “the Beach” (elevation 1,300 msl) located next to the Colorado River at the floor of the Grand Canyon.

About 0745, the accident pilot flew the accident helicopter on an operational check flight at the company’s base at McCarran International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, Nevada. After the short local flight, Sundance ground personnel (consisting of loaders and a tour coordinator) boarded the helicopter about 0840 and flew with the accident pilot on a 45-minute flight from LAS to 1G4 to commence the day’s Descent Canyon tour operations. The director of operations estimated that each flight from 1G4 to the Beach helipad lasted about 3.5 minutes (see figure 1).

Figure 1. Topographic chart showing the 1G4 departure site, the accident site, and the prescribed route through Descent Canyon to the Beach helipad.

These tourist flights were part of an advertised tour package in which Sundance pilots flew passengers through Descent Canyon, dropped them off at the Beach helipad for a scenic boat ride on the Colorado River, then picked them up at the Beach helipad later in the day for a return flight to 1G4 through another scenic canyon.

The accident flight was the pilot’s 11th flight through Descent Canyon that day. The tourist / sightseeing helicopter lifted off from 1G4 about 1237 and flew to the rim of Descent Canyon. The tour coordinator stated that she did not hear the pilot make either the first customary radio call stating that he was lifting off from the helipad or the second customary radio call advising that he was entering Descent Canyon en route to the Beach helipad. A pilot for Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters, who departed in his helicopter from 1G4 and flew through Descent Canyon about 2 minutes before the accident flight, stated that he did not hear any radio calls from the accident pilot and did not know that a helicopter was behind him in the canyon.

The Sundance tour coordinator and a Papillon loader at 1G4 stated that they observed the accident helicopter hover at the rim of Descent Canyon for about 30 to 45 seconds before beginning a level descent. They stated that the helicopters usually flew directly from the loading pads to the top of Descent Canyon and either nosed down into the canyon or hovered for only a few seconds before descending nose-low into the canyon. The Sundance tour coordinator stated that ground personnel assumed that the accident pilot may have been waiting for the Papillon helicopter to clear the canyon before he initiated his descent.

The Papillon pilot who descended his helicopter ahead of the accident flight stated that, while he was approaching the helipad next to the Colorado River, he noticed a fireball rising on the canyon wall behind him in Descent Canyon. There were no known witnesses or air traffic control radar data to provide information on the accident flight’s progress inside the canyon after it descended out of view of the witnesses at 1G4.

The main wreckage was located on a canyon wall ledge about 400 feet beyond a near?vertical canyon wall that showed evidence of gouging consistent with a main rotor blade strike (see figure 2).

Figure 2. Initial main rotor blade impact location and main wreckage location. Note: This photograph was taken by a National Transportation Safety Board investigator on February 4, 2004, during a canyon topography documentation flight. The wreckage was previously removed from the site.

Figure 3. Overview of initial main rotor blade impact location, main wreckage location, and prescribed route of flight. Note: This photograph was taken by a Safety Board investigator on February 4, 2004, during a canyon topography documentation flight. The wreckage was previously removed from the site.

Figure 4. Main wreckage debris field.

SOURCE: NTSB

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