Accident to the Airbus BK117 C-2 (EC145) registered F-HSOC on 23/11/2024 at Montanel

Before departing to the emergency response site, the crew had identified three areas for landing: two fields and a paved area. During the reconnaissance, the pilot quickly discarded the two fields in favour of the paved area. This area was circumscribed by a bank and a barrier making it confined with respect to the dimensions of the helicopter. The crew did not consider the barrier, situated outside the touchdown area, as a hazard for landing on the road’s axis.

The pilot then wanted to turn the helicopter into a suitable direction with respect to the slope of the landing area and, according to his statement, to allow the stretcher to be loaded on board. In hover, the pilot started rotating the helicopter to the left-hand side around the yaw axis without making a safety call and without discussing this with the technical crew member. According to their statements, they were focused on the bank on their left-hand side.

At the end of the yaw rotation of the helicopter, the tail rotor collided, in the area of the barrier, with an obstacle or hard object, which may have been ejected and that the investigation was not able to identify, resulting in particular, in the destruction of the tail rotor blades.

The pilot then lost yaw control and the helicopter started a right-hand turn. The pilot immediately touched down, using the collective pitch lever, to stop the rotation before putting the engines into idle. The landing was firm given the damage observed on the helicopter.