C6/2004L Helicopter accident at Pirunpäävaara in the community of Inari on 5 October 2004

At Pirunpäävaara In the community of Inari, approximately 15 km west-southwest of Raja-Jooseppi a flight accident occurred for a Schweizer 269C-type helicopter with registration sign OH-HAV, owned by First Invest Oy, on Tuesday October 5th 2004 at 14:45 Finnish time. The helicopter was on a reindeer management flight when the tail rotor lost its power and the helicopter began to spin around its vertical axis. The pilot made an emergency landing on a mountainside. The helicopter had a two-man crew. Neither crewmember was injured in connection with the forced landing. The helicopter was significantly damaged in the forced landing. The Accident Investigation Board Finland commenced an official investigation of the event, nominating investigator Ari Huhtala as chairman and investigator Hannu Mäkeläinen as a team member. Investigator Juhani Mäkelä and chief meteorologist Ossi Korhonen assisted in the investigation.

The helicopter was climbing up along the mountain slope at a low flight altitude. Suddenly, without warning, the helicopter swung to the right and began spinning clockwise around its vertical axis. The pilot noticed that he had lost the power of the tail rotor and tried to restore control, but without success. The pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in a clearing on the mountainside.

The opinion of the Accident Investigation Board is that a sudden change in the wind direction and/or speed caused a rapid rotation of the helicopter to the right. Large and rapid movements of the pedals caused a stall of the tail rotor and the pilot did not gain control of the helicopter. A contributing factor was the pilot’s limited flying experience in reindeer management flights in demanding mountain and wind conditions.

The investigators did not issue any safety recommendations as a result of the incident.

C6/2004L Report (pdf, 0.59 Mt)