A Bell Agusta Aerospace AB139 helicopter crashed last week during a test flight near Rimini, Italy, killing the chief test engineer and injuring the pilot.
Eyewitnesses report that the aircraft lost power before the two pilots bailed out. The Italian air safety board says the engineer's parachute was caught in the blades.
The incident is being investigated by Italian officials. Further test flights have been cancelled. The aircraft took off from the Italian air force base at Rimini, 80km (43nm) from Bologna in northern Italy, at around 10.25 and flew for 20min before crashing at Monteleone, 20km north west of Rimini.
Agusta uses the base for test flights due to the diversity of terrain in the surrounding area. The company is unable to comment on the cause of the crash until release of the preliminary results of the investigation. According to Italian press reports, the helicopter was performing auto-rotation manoeuvres at an altitude of around 6,000ft (1,830m) at the time of the accident.
Source: Flight International
