18-Sep-2014 Source: Nordic Rotors
The Swedish Accident Investigation Board (Statens Haverikommission, SHK) has published its final report following an accident that occurred in Tyresö, south east of Stockholm, on 26 August 2013.
The aircraft, a Swedish Robinson R44 Clipper II with the registration SE-JOE, was engaged in a water-sampling assignment in the Stockholm area. The crew consisted of one pilot and one crew member, whose task was to lower water sampling equipment into the lake whilst hovering above the water. Upon approach to the first lake, Lake Tyresö-Flaten, the pilot noticed that the water was calm and that it was difficult to estimate the height above the surface, why he reduced the rate of descent. When the pilot estimated the height to be roughly 5-10 meters, he and had still not obtained clear references to the water surface, so he started to arrest the sink rate further. At that same moment, the helicopter hit the water in a nose-up, right-bank, altitude and the tail boom broke loose. The pilot deployed the emergency floatation gear at the same time as the helicopter rolled over to the right. The pilot and crew member egressed the aircraft through the rear left door frame – both of them unharmed.
In its statement, the accident investigation authority writes that there was no method described in the operations manual for approach and height reduction towards a water surface in calm conditions without the support of other references or aids. This probably contributed to control over the closing speed and distance to the water surface having been lost, which resulted in collision with the water surface. SHK left no recommendations following the report.
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