WEEK 31
H2F brings you the ‘helicopter mayday of the week’ with a short accident report summary. I tell you what happened. You think more about why it happened. We all learn from it. Because that’s what accident reporting is for.
TITLE
Tail rotor strike during confined-area HEMS landing.
WHAT?
An EC145 was dispatched to a road accident. During landing, the tail rotor struck an unidentified object while the helicopter was manoeuvring in yaw in the low hover. The tail rotor blades were destroyed, yaw control was lost and the pilot made an immediate hard landing. The helicopter was substantially damaged, however all five occupants were uninjured.
WHERE?
The accident occurred at Montanel in France. The selected landing site was a paved road, bounded by a bank topped with combination of wall, fence, and hedge.
WHEN?
The accident occurred at approximately 13:00 local time on 23rd November 2024.
HOW?
The crew had identified two fields and the area of paved road before departure. During a recce from 500 ft, the pilot rejected the fields because of the surface and concerns about access and so selected the paved site.
Approaching the hover a few metres above the ground, the pilot assessed the road was sloping. At 2 ft, he initiated a left yaw to improve the helicopter’s orientation to the slope and, according to his statement, to facilitate stretcher loading. The helicopter yawed approximately 90° in six seconds. Neither crew member had verbalised a check of obstacle-clearance before the manoeuvre and both concentrated primarily on the bank to their left. The tail rotor then struck an unidentified object. The helicopter yawed rapidly right and the pilot responded by lowering the collective to land immediately.
CONDITIONS?
Wind and visibility conditions at the site were good. However, the confined landing area contained several low obstacles. Investigators could not identify what the tail rotor actually struck, although damage confirmed contact with a hard external object.
OUTCOME?
Both tail rotor blades were destroyed and the tail rotor drivetrain, landing gear and tail boom were damaged. Main rotor blades also contacted the upper cable cutter during the firm touchdown.
WHY?
The investigation identified two principal contributing themes:
- Operational pressure. The pilot knew that the casualties( a father and son) were severely burned and described feeling time and task pressure. He was also preoccupied with the possibility of insufficient fuel for onward flight to a specialist burns hospital. His choice of landing-site additionally reflected a desire to facilitate stretcher handling and avoid muddy conditions for the medical team.
- Crew communication and attention. The bank and barrier in the vicinity of the aircraft were not explicitly discussed during the recce. Before yawing, the pilot did not mention, lookout, safety considerations, or coordinate the manoeuvre with the technical crew member, whose duties included obstacle detection. Both focused on the bank to the left rather than maintaining all round situational awareness. Their familiarity from regularly flying together may also have encouraged the abbreviation or omission of technical call-outs.
The accident demonstrates how mission pressure, accommodation of medical requirements and crew familiarity can progressively erode safety margins.
REFERENCE?
Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses. (2025). Accident to the Airbus BK117 C-2 (EC145) registered F-HSOC on 23 November 2024 at u (BEA2024-0467).
Note:
Accident reports selected from the following open source databases: US NTSB; UK AAIB; Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network; Australia’s ATSB. Ireland’s AAIU; Taiwan’s TTSB; France’s BEA; Spain’s CIAIAC. Germany’s BFU.
competentaviators.com 