A report has now been issued following the accident involving an Air Carolina (Island Helicopters) helicopter that occurred at Virgin Gorda on February 24  2007.

Roman Bihuniak, who was appointed by the Governor, His Excellency David Pearey as the lead investigator, compiled the report.

According to a press release from the Governor’s Office, the Helicopter, registration number N222NK, landed at Virgin Gorda airport and taxied to a halt, half on the apron and half on the surrounding grassed area. This parked position was outside the permitted parking area and the pilot was asked by the Airport Authority to reposition the helicopter into the correct parking location. Unfortunately, because of the poor positioning of the helicopter, and with the wind being in an unfavourable direction, coupled with the overly aggressive use of the helicopter flight control lever known as the ‘Collective Lever’ the helicopter experienced a phenomenon known as a dynamic rollover.  Such a situation can occur within seconds and is normally unrecoverable as was shown by the accident to N222NK.

Because of the nature of a dynamic rollover the two Safety Recommendations concern the contributing causal factors and should be read within the context of the full accident report. In summary the first safety recommendation concerns lubrication of the landing gear and the second concerns awareness training for operators and pilots.

· Because of the severe operating conditions with regard to salt, sand, dust and high ambient temperatures, additional lubrication to the landing gears would have been appropriate. The manufacturer’s lubrication requirement contained in the maintenance manual does indicate that helicopters should be lubricated more frequently if conditions warrant. The operator did not take this into consideration during the normal day to day operation of the helicopter in such conditions. 

· More training and awareness of the possible situations where dynamic rollover conditions could exist should be provided via the initial and recurrent training for pilots through training schools and employers’ continuous training programmes, particularly those involved in commercial activities. Unfortunately training in dynamic rollover recovery is difficult to simulate and therefore heightened awareness and vigilance remains the pilot’s best tools to prevent placing the helicopter into a possible dynamic rollover configuration.

The full accident report gives greater account of the accident and its contribution factors including helicopter system description and analysis of the accident.

The full accident investigation report will shortly be available to read online at www.bvigazette.org.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment