Accident to the Bell AB206 registered OO-MOK on 15/07/2023 at Dijon

This is a courtesy translation by the BEA of the Final Report on the Safety Investigation. As accurate as the translation may be, the original text in French is the work of reference.

Note: the following information is principally based on the pilot’s statement. This information has not been independently validated by the BEA.

1 History of the flight

At around 12:45, the pilot who had taken off from Warcoing airport in Belgium, accompanied by three passengers, lined up on final for runway 20 of Dijon-Darois aerodrome. After flying over the runway threshold, the pilot quickly turned right, passed in front of an aeroplane at the holding point of runway 20 and hover taxied to the refuelling area.

The pilot hovered overhead the “H”[1] close to the refuelling station and then landed. When the skids touched down, the pilot reported on the A/A frequency that he could feel vibrations in the controls and abnormal oscillations as if the helicopter had entered resonance.

The pilot lifted the helicopter into hover. In the manoeuvre, the helicopter was carried to the right and the main rotor struck the canopy of the refuelling station. The rotor blades cut through the tail boom and part of the helicopter nose. Debris was thrown onto the doors of nearby hangars. The helicopter came to a halt on its left side.

The occupants evacuated the helicopter unaided.

Figure 1: photo of OO-MOK (source: Air transport police (BGTA))

2 Additional information

2.1 Pilot information and statement

The 70-year-old Belgium pilot held a PPL(H) issued on 7 September 2000 by the Belgium authorities and a class 2 medical fitness certificate obtained in January 2023. Since the beginning of the year, he had logged around 19 flight hours on the Bell 206.

The pilot indicated that he had already experienced a similar phenomenon in the past when landing at Bordeaux and described it as entering ground resonance. He also specified that he regularly flew to Dijon-Darois aerodrome to refuel and declared that he had manoeuvred calmly and normally.

2.2 Meteorological information

The meteorological conditions estimated by the French met office, Météo-France, at the accident site were:  

• mean wind from south-west with gusts;
• overcast to broken cloud cover with cumulonimbus;
• ground temperature around 25°C, dew point temperature around 18°C;
• QNH 1011.

An amber weather warning concerning the risk of severe storms was in force for Côte-d’Or.

Figure 2: visible satellite image, radar image and lightning strikes on 15 July 2023 at 12:45

(source: Météo France)

Dijon-Darois aerodrome is situated in the centre of the red circle in Figure 2. The figure shows a shower with cumulonimbus south-east of Dijon (2). This shower was heading north-east and getting stronger.

The photo taken by the BGTA just after the accident (see Figure 1) shows the windsock close to the threshold of runway 20. It indicates a roughly south-west wind of at least 25 kt.