The pilot of an Airbus AS350 B2 was en route to a work site in Quebec, with a staging platform hanging from a cargo hook on the helicopter’s belly, when he heard a loud noise and released the external load. The helicopter yawed to the left, and during an attempted emergency landing, the pilot shut down the engine, and the helicopter landed hard on rugged terrain.
The pilot was severely injured, and the Héli-Express helicopter was substantially damaged in the hard landing, which the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said occurred after the pilot pitched the helicopter’s nose up to slow the airspeed — an action that caused the tail rotor to strike the platform, ripping out the tail rotor and gearbox.
In its final report on the May 11, 2021, accident, the TSB said its investigation also found that the project’s deadlines, and the consequences of missing those deadlines, imposed time pressure on workers at the site and the pilots.
“Faced with these pressures, …
