C4/2005L Helicopter accident in Hailuoto on 19 August 2005

A flight accident happened in Hailuoto community near Oulu, on Friday August 19, 2005, at approximately 20.35 Finnish time. The accident occurred for a privately owned Robinson R22 BETA helicopter, registration OH-HME. The Accident Investigation Board Finland appointed August 23, 2005, in its decision C 4/2005 L, an investigation commission. Investigator Ari Huhtala was nominated as the investigator-in-charge and investigators Kari Siitonen and Juhani Mäkelä as team members. The investigation commission called Pentti Törrönen, chief of Helitour's flight operations, as a specialist.

Approximately 20.20, the pilot of the helicopter and the accompanying passenger prepared for a local flight in the vicinity of Hailuoto. At 20.35, the pilot took with the helicopter to hovering approximately one meter above the ground level and got a feeling that the helicopter does not respond to the control inputs and that he was loosing control of the helicopter. Unexpectedly the helicopter rotated vigorously to the right around its vertical axis simultaneously banking to the left and fell on the beach. The main rotor blades struck into the dune and one of the blades broke off and flew about 40 meters from the helicopter. The helicopter was considerably damaged. The pilot and the accompanying passenger were lightly injured. There were no eyewitnesses for the accident. People at the nearby summer cottages heard the start of the helicopter engine and slightly later the changing of the engine sound. Some of the people had seen the flying rotor blade, after which they ran to the beach and noticed that the helicopter was lying with left side down on the beach, the nose towards the sea. Together with the pilot they helped the passenger, who was stuck to the cockpit, out of the helicopter and called the alarm center. The pilot and the passenger received first aid for their wounds by the people that had arrived to the scene.

The helicopter was at maximum take-off weight and controllability at take-off required larger than normal control inputs. The possibly too large control inputs to the left already before the take-off may have led to a situation, in which the helicopter immediately after leaving the ground has departed in the direction specified by the control inputs. The large corrective control inputs to the right, possibly made by the pilot, combined with the higher than normal torque moment, caused by the high take-off weight, may have led to strong swinging to the right. The rotating motion and low flying altitude of the helicopter, combined with loss of altitude, have led the left landing gear striking to the ground on its side. The collision has caused a so called dynamic collapsing to the left. Based on the investigations, no technical fault was noticed, that could have caused the accident.

The key event leading to the accident was the loss of control and the following collapsing of the helicopter to the left hand side. The too large control inputs, made by the pilot, were an immediate cause. A contributing factor may have been the alcohol, which was present in the pilot's blood.

The investigation commission does not make any safety recommendations.

C4/2005L Report (pdf, 0.65 Mt)