Lack of Pilot Familiarity with High Altitude Landings Noted in Helicopter Incident at Ski Apache

Dec. 16, 2019

A report by the National Transportation Safety Board on a "hard landing" that occurred at Ski Apache in September 2018 as a medical helicopter attempted to pickup a patient, lays out the facts, but draws no conclusions.

The report states that the 53-year-old pilot's last medical examination and flight review was in April 2018. While his estimated hours in air totaled 16,818, all aircraft, including 26 hours in the prior 30 days, the flight to the ski report was only his second at such high altitudes and in the mountains. He was listed as a commercial pilot and flight instructor.

No information was released by the Mescalero Apache Tribe that owns the ski resort north of Ruidoso when the incident occurred Sept. 29, 2018. But the report by Investigators In Charge Eleazar Nepomuceno and Dennis Beattie with the Federal Aviation Administration in Albuquerque, states that at 3:10 a.m., the helicopter pilot reported he was en route to the resort to pick up a patient and decided to conduct an eastbound reconnaissance over the landing site.

"After he saw the ground personnel, while scanning for obstacles, he spotted two cables in front and below the aircraft's flight path and initiated a go-around," the investigator stated. "He added power to clear the cables, and once the tail cleared the cables, he lowered the collective due to a slight droop in the main rotor speed."

"As he continued with the go-around, he initiated a 180-degree left turn to attempt an approach into the landing site. During the westward approach, about 20 feet above the ground, the main rotor speed decayed when he raised the collective to reduce his descent rate. He felt that due to his 'faster than normal' decent rate, he would not be able to cushion the landing."

Before the touchdown, a medical crew member spotted an elevated steel barrier cable below and the pilot applied another 90-degree turn to the left to avoid a tail rotor strike, the investigator wrote.

"The helicopter touched down hard, bounced, rotated about 180-degrees counterclockwise over the barrier cable, slid down an embankment, and came to rest upright," the investigator wrote. The helicopter manufactured in 1996, sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and vertical stabilizer, but three crew members were uninjured.

The medical company director of operations reported that there were no pre-accident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.

The investigator wrote that the pilot reported that during his preflight preparation, he did not calculate the hover in-ground effect value, the hover out-of-ground effect value or the density altitude for the designated landing site.

"He added that the accident flight was his second flight in a high altitude, mountainous environment and that most of his flight hours were accumulated at sea level in Texas," the investigator noted. "He was also not aware that there was an approach, landing and takeoff procedure provided by the ski resort."

The investigator continued that the director of operations stated the company was not aware that there were dedicated procedures for helicopter medical evacuation. The crew members stated crew resource management skills and procedures were lacking, prior to and during the accident. They reported that there was no destination or helicopter performance briefing included with the helicopter preflight.

"The pilot added that he should have completed the go-around and circled back around to land," the investigator wrote.

An automated weather observation station located on an airport about 14 miles away, Sierra Blanca Regional Airport, reported that about the time of the accident, the wind was clocked at 9 knots, gusting to 17 knots. The pilot reported the wind was variable, at about 5 knots.

The Eurocopter was registered as Model/Series: AS350 B2, the owner as Roberts Aircraft Co and the operator as Trans Aero Limited Operating doing business as Trans Aero MedEvac,

Dianne Stallings can be contacted at [email protected].

———

©2019 the Ruidoso News (Ruidoso, N.M.)

Visit the Ruidoso News (Ruidoso, N.M.) at www.ruidosonews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.