An Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) preliminary report indicates that a helicopter crash near Killucan, Co Westmeath, which resulted in the deaths of Niall Crosby and Antonin Kabelka, occurred during a training manoeuvre for a situation where the engine had failed to respond.
That is according to a preliminary report by the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) into the circumstances around the incident on Tuesday July 30.
The accident seems to have happened during a sixth autorotation manoeuvre, which is part of pilot flight training and involves responding to engine failure by conducting an autorotative descent, where the engine no longer powers the main rotor.
Mr. Crosby, the student pilot, was training to fly the Bell Textron Jet Ranger X 505 and had completed approximately three hours of flying time on the model before the crash, while Mr. Kabelka was the instructor on the training flight.
Witnesses observed the helicopter descending rapidly as if to land before climbing back up, with variations in engine sound indicating alternation between ‘Idle’ and ‘Fly’ modes consistent with autorotation training, ultimately leading to the fatal crash into an agricultural building.
The report said that “the helicopter departed from Weston Airport at 1.58pm and the report records that at approximately 2.25pm, while operating in the vicinity of Killucan, Co Westmeath “and during what appears to have been a sixth practice autorotation, the helicopter impacted with the surface of an agricultural field. It then travelled forwards at a height sufficient to clear a boundary fence and impacted with a gable wall of an agricultural building. The report states that “the helicopter came to rest, in a nose-down orientation, in the wall and the roof of the building. Both occupants were fatally injured“.
