Airbus AS350B3E N390LG

Summary

On 3 July 2015 at about 19:39 local time, a Airbus AS350B3E registered N390LG, operated by Air Methods Corp, was involved in an accident near Frisco, Colorado, United States. 3 people were on board and one died, 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

3 July 2015 at 19:39

Classification

Accident

Location

Frisco, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Summit Medical Center (91CO)

Coordinates

39.5686, -106.0794

Aircraft

Airbus AS350B3E

Registration

N390LG

Category

Helicopter

Year built

2013

Engines

1

Operator

Air Methods Corp

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Frisco → Gypsum

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN15MA290

1 person died.

Airbus Helicopters' dual-hydraulic AS350 B3e helicopter's (1) preflight hydraulic check, which depleted hydraulic pressure in the tail rotor hydraulic circuit, and (2) lack of salient alerting to the pilot that hydraulic pressure was not restored before takeoff. Such alerting might have cued the pilot to his failure to reset the yaw servo hydraulic switch to its correct position during the preflight hydraulic check, which resulted in a lack of hydraulic boost to the pedal controls, high pedal forces, and a subsequent loss of control after takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to perform a hover check after liftoff, which would have alerted him to the pedal control anomaly at an altitude that could have allowed him to safely land the helicopter. Contributing to the severity of the injuries was the helicopter's fuel system, which was not crash resistant and facilitated a fuel-fed postcrash fire.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

    The NTSB's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/AccidentReports.aspx. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-17/01.     On July 3, 2015, about 1339 mountain daylight time, an Airbus Helicopters AS350 B3e helicopter, N390LG, registered to and operated by Air Methods Corporation, lifted off from the Summit Medical Center Heliport, Frisco, Colorado, and then crashed into a parking lot; the impact point was located 360 feet southwest of the ground-based helipad. The pilot was fatally injured, and the two flight nurses were seriously injured. The helicopter was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire. The flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 on a company flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.