On November 21, 2015, an AS350D Astar (ZK-HKU) Eurocopter Eurocopter excursion, operated by Alpine Adventures, crashed at Fox Glacier on New Zealand's South Island. All seven people in it were killed.
Video 2015 Fox Glacier helicopter crash
Alpine Adventures
Alpine Adventures is the owner and operator of the former Astar AS-350D helicopter helicopter. James Patrick Scott is the owner of the company and has over 30 years experience operating a helicopter, and the company is a member of the Association of Aviation Industry and Mt Cook & The Westland National Aviation User Group.
A few months before the Fox Glacier crash on June 27, 2015, another Alpine Adventures helicopter, Hughes 369 carrying two hunters and piloted by Brad Maclachlan, crashed near Hari Day. Maclachlan was seriously injured and two hunters on the ship suffered minor injuries.
Maps 2015 Fox Glacier helicopter crash
Previous history
The Eurocopter AS350D Astar (CN 1132) was built in 1979. Registered as N3598F, it has been based in the United States from its construction until 1995 when it was sold to a New Zealand company by RTS Aircraft Services Corp. of Montvale, New Jersey.
When airlifted in the United States, on July 21, 1990, ZK-HKU attacked the telephone line while hovering about a meter above the ground. The main rotor blades cut the lines then trapped in the tail rotor causing the blades to shoot and separate the rotor gearbox and the tail boom from the helicopter.
On April 19, 1998 the ZK-HKU was involved in an emergency landing at Rotorua. It has been engine failure. According to an air accident report, pilots carry autorotational landings to uneven terrain. No one was injured but during heavy landing of landing gear, tail boom and main rotor blade was broken.
Before being sold to Alpine Helicopters, the helicopter was owned by Christchurch Helicopters
Accident
At the time of the accident (around 11:00 NZDT), the weather was reported to be very overcast and rainy. The plane crashed into crevasse about 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) up to Fox Glacier. According to Alpine Adventures' quality assurance manager, Barry Waterland, the helicopter crashed just after taking off from a glacier at a designated spot named The Chancellor . When the helicopter was reported to have passed, his flat pilot, Thomas Darling, boarded another helicopter to search for them. When finding the crash site, Darling warned the rescue coordination center and emergency services helicopter flew to the crash site. Police Inspector John Canning told the media that emergency services helicopter crews did not see any signs of life. They had to return to Fox Glacier village because the weather was too bad for them to land.
Preliminary reports based on the size of debris fields and charred marks on the hillside above the crash site are estimated to indicate that the helicopter crashed before falling onto the glacier. The helicopter has no transponder or black box. No mayday call is made indicating a sudden catastrophic event.
There were six passengers, all tourists, on board, four Englishmen and two Australians. In 2017 Addenbrooke Hospital, Cambridge, England named the Radiosurgery Suite at the hospital after Doctor Katherine Walker, one of the victims.
Pilot
Pilot, a 28-year-old New Zealander, Mitchell Paul Gameren, is described as "experienced" with over 3,000 flight hours. He has experience flying in Malaysia and Botswana. Gameren's interest in flying began when he was five, when his mother worked at Southern Lakes Helicopters. He was able to fly a fixed wing aircraft when he was 17 years old and then started flying helicopters. From 2011 to 2014, he flew helicopters in Botswana.
Recovery operation
A day after the accident, four bodies were recovered from the scene, but the operation was stopped due to worsening weather conditions. Police announced that further efforts would be made on Wednesday that week. The area where the helicopter falls is described as a very dangerous, uneven, and moving ice, with a 20-meter gap. The ice blocks are drawn bigger than the buildings. On November 24, police announced that the post-mortem procedure on the four newly recovered victims had been completed and that they were made up of three women and a man.
Weather cleared for one hour on November 25 enables a recovery team consisting of Police, Alpine Cliff Rescue, and drone operators to land on a glacier. The unmanned aircraft then filmed the location before the weather closed again. The remaining three bodies and most of the debris were recovered from the crash site on 26 November.
At the end of March 2016 more parts of the helicopter were found from the crash site by professional mountain climbers employed by the Transportation Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC). The parts become visible because the snow melts during the summer months.
The body of one of the British women was discovered on the glacier on March 2, 2017 and was officially identified on March 15, 2017.
Accident investigation
In November 2015 TAIC suggested that it is needed until May 2017 for Head of Investigation of Team Captain Burfoot's accident to complete the cause investigation of the accident. The ruins of recovered helicopter aircraft were taken to the TAIC site in Wellington for evaluation. The father of one of New Zealand's 2010 Fletcher FU24 accident casualties expressed his lack of confidence in TAIC's ability to properly investigate accidents based on the destruction of evidence from the crash and New Zealand's loose approach to air safety.
Helicopter engines are shipped to US manufacturers for inspection under the supervision of TAIC investigators. Aircraft control components were shipped to Australia for testing and inspection and a team from a French helicopter factory has also checked the wreckage of a plane in Wellington. A draft report is being prepared in March 2017.
Local news reports state that the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has received complaints a few days before the accident about the lack of landing markers on the glaciers.
At 4:30 pm on Friday, May 28, 2016 CAA suspended James Patrick Scott Air Operation Certificate from Alpine Adventures on operational safety issues. CAA director Graeme Harris said, "The action taken does not in any way determine the outcome of the investigation [into a helicopter crash 2015] to take place". Scott operates Fox and Franz Heliservices, Tekapo Helicopters, and Makarora Helicopters. TAIC suggests that its investigation into the accident is now underway to analyze the environment and Alpine Adventures. The Air Operations Certificate was issued by CAA to the renamed entity, Fox-Franz Heliservices in September.
Scott and Organization Systems Manager Barry Waterland have been sued by the CAA on June 3, 2016 under Health and Safety legislation in the Greymouth District Court. The case will be called on July 12, but postponed until early September. On July 6, the CAA suggested that James Patrick Scott's operating license has been submitted. Scott and Waterland plead not guilty to Health and Safety allegations, with them being returned until September 30. This case remains to be heard when the body is further discovered in March 2017.
In July 2017, the New Zealand Aviation Advocacy Group (GAA) voiced concerns about CAA aviation operations inspector Paul Mitchell Jones, who was involved in the crash investigation. Jones has exaggerated his qualifications in his CV and there are serious concerns about his work. In October 2017 TAIC advised the new Transport Minister that they are now writing a report on the accident.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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