ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 237694
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| Date: | Friday 26 July 2019 |
| Time: | 21:15 |
| Type: |  Sikorsky S-76C+ |
| Owner/operator: | Babcock, S.A.U. |
| Registration: | EC-JES |
| MSN: | 760576 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2004 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | Ría de Vigo (Pontevedra) -
 Spain
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ambulance |
| Departure airport: | Vigo Airport (VGO/LEVX) |
| Vigo Airport (VGO/LEVX) | |
| Investigating agency: | CIAIAC |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The Sikorsky S-76C+, registration EC-JES, suffered an incident when the crew inadvertently descended to an altitude of 50 feet above sea level, during a wind check on the Vigo estuary.
The helicopter took off from Vigo Airport, with a pilot, co-pilot, rescue swimmer, winch operator and instructor on board. In addition to being a training exercise, the winch operator was to undergo a SAR verification during the flight. This would involve a simulated rescue in the vicinity of a cliff. As the helicopter was descending to an altitude of 500 ft and positioning itself to begin the training exercise, the crew realised the aircraft was continuing to descend rapidly, and they were only 50 ft above sea level.
They were forced to execute a sudden manoeuvre to put the helicopter into an ascent regime and reverse the descent
Causes/contributing factors
The incident was caused by a loss of situational awareness on behalf of the crew.
This lack of awareness resulted from the crew’s assumption that the aircraft was operating under altitude control, when, in fact, it was not because the corresponding system had not been activated. Excess confidence in the automatisms caused the crew to be complacent. They failed to carry out the mandatory monitoring of the descent, which led to a potentially life-threatening situation.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.mitma.gob.es/organos-colegiados/ciaiac/investigacion/2019/in-040-2019
https://aerossurance.com/safety-management/automation-issues-during-night-sar-training-near-cfit/
Location
Media:
Descent during night training, workload high, an inappropriate AFCS mode was inadvertently selected. Pulled up at less than 22ft after a call from the winch op. https://t.co/9sh3PFyr9G #helicopter #sar #searchandrescue #coastguard #flightsafety #aviationsafety #automation pic.twitter.com/cAZZ45ahex
— Aerossurance (@Aerossurance) December 17, 2022
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 06-Jul-2020 15:08 | cear2002 | Added |
| 06-Jul-2020 15:11 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 28-Aug-2022 11:18 | harro | Updated [Narrative, Accident report] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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