The pilot of an Agusta A109E, intent on landing at the London Heliport despite deteriorating weather, turned his helicopter onto a collision course with an unlighted crane that he did not see in time to avoid, the U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) says.
The helicopter struck the crane, which was attached to a building under construction about 700 ft above mean sea level (MSL), and crashed onto a street near Vauxhall Bridge, where it burst into flames at 0820 local time on Jan. 13, 2013, killing the pilot — the only person in the helicopter — and a pedestrian.
In its final report on the accident, the AAIB cited as causal factors the pilot’s decision to turn — noting that he was “probably unaware of the helicopter’s proximity to the building at the beginning of the turn” — and the fact that he either did not see the crane or that he saw it “too late to take effective action.” When it struck the crane, the helicopter was about 105 ft (32 m) from the buil…
