Airbus AS350 N207CH

Summary

On 23 May 2017 at about 02:05 local time, a Airbus AS350 registered N207CH, operated by Coastal Helicopters, Inc., was involved in an accident near Juneau, Alaska, United States. 7 people were on board and 4 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 May 2017 at 02:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Juneau, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

58.5842, -134.6228

Aircraft

Airbus AS350

Registration

N207CH

Category

Helicopter

Year built

1987

Engines

1

Operator

Coastal Helicopters, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Juneau → Juneau

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC17LA025

4 people had minor injuries.

The pilot's decision to depart into an area of degraded visual meteorological and flat light conditions, which resulted in a loss of visual references and subsequent controlled flight into terrain.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

After another company pilot returned to base due to deteriorating weather conditions en route, the instrument-rated commercial helicopter pilot flew to a remote glacier to pick up passengers. Upon departing from the glacier, the pilot encountered deteriorating visibility and flat light conditions. She decided to turn back to the departure point and land to wait for conditions to improve; however, during the turn, the helicopter impacted the featureless, snow-covered terrain and came to rest inverted. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation with the helicopter, and the accident is consistent with the pilot's failure to maintain clearance from terrain while operating in poor visibility and flat light conditions, which obscured features of the terrain and resulted in a loss of visual clues regarding the helicopter's distance from the ground. The operator assigned different weather minimums to each of its pilots depending on their experience level. The accident pilot was classified at the highest experience level and was permitted to fly in conditions as low as 1/2 mile visibility, cloud ceilings 300 ft above ground level (agl), and from remote sites with the potential for white out conditions. The estimated conditions reported from the landing site shortly before the accident included 1 1/2 miles visibility with fog and ceilings about 1,500 ft agl, though previous observations indicated that fog had begun developing about an hour before the accident occurred and that conditions had continued to deteriorate since that time. Though the reported weather conditions were above the minimums specified by the company's operations manual, it is possible that the pilot felt pressure to complete the flight given that she was classified as more experienced; it is also possible that the pilot and/or operator felt pressure to conduct the flight because there were no formal procedures in place in the event that passengers were required to remain on the glacier for an extended time due to a contingency such as weather conditions that prohibited flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.