Hughes/Helicopter Assocs 369A N546
13 October 2012 · West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States · No injuries
Summary
On 13 October 2012 at about 13:20 local time, a Hughes/Helicopter Assocs 369A registered N546 was involved in an accident near West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States. 5 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.
The record
- Date
- at 13:20
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
- Nearest airport
- Brandywine (OQN)
- Coordinates
- 39.9903, -75.5819
- Aircraft
- Hughes/Helicopter Assocs 369A
- Registration
- N546
- Category
- Helicopter
- Year built
- 1997
- Engines
- 1
- Operator
- Not recorded
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Purpose of flight
- Personal
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- Lancaster → West Chester
- Aircraft damage
- Substantial
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- ERA13LA022
People
Nobody was injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to see and avoid the preceding helicopter while maneuvering for landing. Contributing to the accident were the flight lead pilot’s inadequate preflight briefing and in-flight instruction to the formation pilots, which resulted in the loss of the formation flight's integrity and the pilots’ situational awareness within the flight.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The formation flight of helicopters, designated Chalk 1 through 5, was en route to an annual airshow. The lead helicopter (Chalk 1) was on the left base leg of the traffic pattern at the nontower-controlled destination airport when the Chalk 3 helicopter pilot identified and announced that an airplane was on final approach for the landing runway. The Chalk 1 helicopter pilot announced that he was conducting a go-around and turned the helicopter left, inside the landing runway, and proceeded upwind. About the same time, the flight lead pilot, who was traveling in the trail position (Chalk 5), instructed the other helicopter pilots to "break left or land." The flight lead pilot's ambiguous instruction resulted in the breakdown of the formation flight's integrity. Instead of a flight of five helicopters and one airplane attempting to avoid conflict in the traffic pattern, each of the six individual aircraft were immediately placed in a position in which the pilots had to avoid potential collisions with the other aircraft. The Chalk 4 pilot subsequently lost sight of the Chalk 3 helicopter as the pilots of both helicopters were maneuvering for landing. The Chalk 4 helicopter pilot then landed the helicopter and was hover-taxiing to park when the helicopter collided with the Chalk 3 helicopter as its pilot was maneuvering it to land on the runway. Before the flight, the flight lead pilot presented briefing slides to the group of pilots; however, the slides did not provide any procedures for a loss of visual contact while flying in formation.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Aircraft involved
| Aircraft | Registration | Operator | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hughes/Helicopter Assocs 369A | N546 | - | Substantial |
| Hughes 369A | N369SN | - | Substantial |
Other accidents in this area
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Jul 2012 | Evektor-Aerotechnik As SPORTSTAR PLUS | Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States | Adventure Flight Training LP | No injuries | - |
| 9 Jul 2012 | Cessna 172S | Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States | Gateway Aviation | No injuries | - |
| 5 Jun 2012 | Thomas Scott EAA BIPLANE MODEL P | Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, United States | Novodran Igor | No injuries | - |
| 13 Jul 2012 | Burkhart Grob G 103 TWIN II | Hilltown, Pennsylvania, United States | Philadelphia Glider Council Inc | Serious injuries | - |
| 7 Jun 2012 | Boeing 757 2B7 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | American Airlines | Serious injuries | - |
| 25 Apr 2012 | Evektor-Aerotechnik As SPORTSTAR | Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States | Sportstar 505EV LLC | No injuries | - |