ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 245452
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| Date: | Tuesday 8 December 2020 |
| Time: | c. 19:10 |
| Type: |  Eurocopter EC 135T1 |
| Owner/operator: | SAF Hélicoptères |
| Registration: | F-HJAF |
| MSN: | 0044 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Bonvillard, Savoie 73 -
 France
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Albertville Aerodrome |
| Albertville Aerodrome | |
| Investigating agency: | BEA |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The Eurocopter EC 135T1 crashed in mountainous terrain in the Bonvillard sector, Savoie Department of the French Alps during mountain rescue training at c 1800m altitude. The helicopter was destroyed and only the pilot survived albeit with serious injuries. Weather was a factor in the area.
Contributing Factors:
At the end of a flight presented as an evaluation flight in night heli-training by the instructor, the pilot departed the site and made a turn of approximately 180° to the left while remaining level. The flight appeared to be controlled until the collision with the trees. It could not be determined why the pilot undertook this turn. It cannot be excluded that this turn was initiated to avoid clouds and fog banks that appeared near the exercise site.
It could not be determined exactly why the pilot continued the left turn until he collided with the trees and then the ground. This could have been due to a loss of situational awareness on the part of the pilot regarding the position of the helicopter relative to the terrain.
Contributing to a possible loss of situational awareness of the pilot regarding the position of the helicopter in relation to the terrain were:
- the partial or total disappearance of distant landmarks such as lights from settlements in the valley due to deteriorating weather conditions;
- the loss of external visual references in the final phase of the trajectory because of reduced luminosity conditions during a dark night without moon which did not allow the pilot to distinguish the surrounding obstacles and terrain;
- a temporary interruption of the monitoring of the trajectory by the instructor in the context of a total and recent experience of the pilot in limited night flight, compared to the specific difficulties of this phase of flight, in the immediate proximity of the terrain by a dark night not allowing to distinguish the surrounding obstacles. While moving away from the winching site, the instructor considered that the trajectory started was coherent with a safe return to the airfield and turned around to exchange with the other occupants of the helicopter.
It cannot be excluded that a phenomenon of sensory illusions during a dark night could have contributed to the possible loss of situational awareness of the pilot concerning the position of the helicopter in relation to the terrain.
May have contributed to the decision to undertake an instructional flight with reduced safety margins in a hostile environment (mountain, dark night, predicted weather deterioration):
- insufficient consideration of the pilot's total and recent lack of experience in night flying in the mountains in the immediate vicinity of the terrain;
- an underestimation of the risks of the flight potentially induced by a time constraint on the realization of the training. This constraint could be explained by the desire to have qualified crews available to meet the demand of the mountain rescue activity the following week. This may have prompted the instructor/RDFE to propose a lighter training program that would allow the trainees to obtain all the SPA.HHO approvals, even though this type of reduction is not provided for in the MANEX. While SAF HELICOPTERES may have considered that the pilot's experience in daytime mountain flying allowed for this reduction, this reasoning does not seem to be transposable to night training flights.
The following factors have contributed to create a pressure that the responsible executives, and in particular the personnel in charge of the implementation of the SPA.HHO heli-lift activity, have imposed on themselves
- the insufficient consideration by the company's management (including the winch operator trainer responsible for flight operations and the pilot instructor responsible for crew training) of the deadlines necessary for the integration in the MANEX of the procedures relating to the SPA.HHO activity and for the delivery by the civil aviation services of the approval of this activity, taking into account the contractual dates foreseen for the setting up of this activity;
- the additional workload generated by the implementation of the SPA.HHO activity and the associated training.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/faits-divers-justice/savoie-crash-d-un-helicoptere-du-service-aerien-francais-a-bonvillard-1607459360&prev=search&pto=aue
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://www.saf-helico.com/&prev=search&pto=aue
https://aerossurance.com/helicopters/night-mountain-rescue-hoist-training-fatal-cfit/
https://cdn.jetphotos.com/full/6/25631_1568299751.jpg (photo)
Location
Images:
Photo: BEA
Media:
Just days after being granted a SPA.HHO approval a CFIT occurred at night on the operator's 6th training flight. A reminder that for a MOC your SMS needs to actively manage risk.https://t.co/9uZxdpjUei#helicopter #sar #hoist #accident #flightsafety #aviationsafety pic.twitter.com/ifPGzBCaDt
— Aerossurance (@Aerossurance) December 28, 2022
⚠️ Accident @AirbusHeli #EC135 F-HJAF survenu le 08/12/20 à #Bonvillard / les enquêteurs @BEA_Aero ont travaillé sur le site ce matin (constatations & prélèvements) / l’épave devrait être relevée et envoyée au BEA pour la suite de l’enquête de sécurité. pic.twitter.com/GzqGOSg2oe
— BEA ✈️ 🚁🛩 🇫🇷 (@BEA_Aero) December 10, 2020
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 08-Dec-2020 22:04 | Geno | Added |
| 08-Dec-2020 23:25 | Captain Adam | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Source, Embed code] |
| 08-Dec-2020 23:28 | Captain Adam | Updated [Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 10-Dec-2020 05:54 | RobertMB | Updated [Cn, Location, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 10-Dec-2020 20:49 | harro | Updated [Photo] |
| 10-Dec-2020 20:50 | Aerossurance | Updated [Embed code] |
| 10-Dec-2020 20:52 | Aerossurance | Updated [Embed code, Narrative] |
| 22-Feb-2021 19:46 | rudy | Updated [[Embed code, Narrative]] |
| 27-Feb-2021 17:51 | rudy | Updated [[[Embed code, Narrative]]] |
| 06-May-2021 15:45 | rudy | Updated [[[[Embed code, Narrative]]]] |
| 06-May-2021 15:55 | harro | Updated [Phase] |
| 29-Sep-2023 10:00 | harro | Updated [[Phase]] |
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