After fatal helicopter crash last month Australian safety bureau recommends another look at visual flight requirements
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has recommended that the country's aviation safety organisation, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), review night visual flight requirements following the crash last month of a Bell 407 rescue helicopter on a night flight off the Queensland coast. The crash was the third in as many years of a rescue service helicopter in the state of Queensland.
The helicopter, flying to Hamilton Island to collect a woman who had been injured in an accident, crashed into the sea at night on 17 October, 28km (15nm) north of Mackay, killing all three crew.
Weather was good, with scattered cloud, but there was no moon, according to the ATSB's preliminary report. The helicopter tracked north-northwest, flying at between 2,900ft and 3,100ft for the majority of the flight. It then climbed to 3,700ft and performed a series of abrupt manoeuvres before descending to 2,700ft and disappearing from radar coverage. The ATSB says that the helicopter hit the water at substantial speed, resulting in the engine, transmission, main and tailrotors separating from the fuselage.
The ATSB conducted a night flight in similar conditions, at the same altitude and track, and found it was very dark with no ground or celestial illumination visible and no discernible horizon.
The ATSB says it has identified a safety deficiency relating to visual operations at night. Pilots are not required to consider the amount available of external visual reference, including celestial illumination, terrain lighting or the presence of a visual horizon, it says. "Under certain conditions, external visual reference is not possible," says the ATSB.
In addition to recommending a review of requirements, the ATSB also advises CASA to release information to pilots, emphasising the importance of considering whether environmental conditions allow for aircraft orientation by visual flight reference alone. Pilots should also consider whether there will be sufficient ground or natural lighting to provide visual reference, and consider whether they can safely operate the aircraft in non-visual conditions.
In June 2000 five people were killed when a rescue helicopter crashed in the central Queensland town of Marlborough, while the following year a helicopter ditched into the sea off Rockhampton during a night rescue.
Source: Flight International
