Accident to the Robinson R44 registered VH-KOV operated by Wellspring Rural Services on 16/12/2022 at Nathan River

Preliminary data based on the notification from the Australian authorities:

During sight seeing operations, the engine ran rough and failed. The pilot conducted an autorotation where the helicopter collided with terrain.

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General information
Local date	16/05/2022
Responsible entity	Australia - ATSB
State or area of occurrence	Australia
Location	Nathan River
Human consequences	Serious
Number of serious injuries	2
Number of minor injuries	2
Aircraft consequences	Destroyed
Occurrence class	Accident
File number	BEA2022-0604

Flight Information
Aircraft category	Helicopter - Small helicopter
Operator	Australia (Wellspring Rural Services Pty Ltd)
Manufacturer / Model	ROBINSON - R44
Aircraft Registration	VH-KOV
State of registry	Australia
Last departure point	Australia - Other (Lorella Springs Homestead)
Planned destination	Australia - Other (Lorella Springs Homestead)
Flight phase	En route
Serial number	1762
Operator Type AG	Corporate/executive
Operation Type	Commercial Air Transport - Passenger - Sightseeing

BEA is the French air safety investigation authority for civil aviation. The sole objective of the investigation is to improve air safety. It is intended neither to apportion blame nor to assess responsiblity.