Too close to rock face – shredded rotor of emergency medical helicopter: Investigate

On Sunday evening, the anything but planned landing of a helicopter from the emergency department of the ÖAMTC Christophorus fleet at Innsbruck airport caused a sensation: an eyewitness filmed the “Yellow Angel” as it hovered from the sky with suspiciously loud noises and landed sliding in the grass next to the runway.

That same evening the rotor blades were dismantled, the helicopter was loaded onto a truck with a crane and transported to the hangar. The photo is reminiscent of the incident in Axams in January this year, when the same helicopter (C1) was flown into the valley suspended from the main rotor shaft. More on that later.

Gliding flight with landing skid on a slope
What happened? At about 3:45 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, the emergency doctor’s helicopter was called in because a mountaineer in the area of ​​the Brandjochkreuz had suffered an arm injury – actually a routine operation. The helicopter pilot flew to the location on steep terrain and dropped off the emergency doctor there: “For this, he parked the helicopter while hovering on the slope with a skid and let the rescue worker get out,” ÖAMTC spokesman Ralph Schüller describes the procedure. “While he’s taking care of the patient, the helicopter takes off and comes back later.”

Pilots train for such situations
When the doctor and patient were brought back into the helicopter as described above, it happened: the rotor made contact with the ground or a rock wall. “All four blade ends were damaged. Of course, the pilot notices that it is as if a motorist hits the curb,” says the spokesman. The pilot immediately turned around without picking up passengers and, despite the heavy damage, landed the aircraft safely on the grass.

Rotor threw rocks, one hit emergency doctor
When the rotor hit the rock wall, dust and stones were flung into the air. One of them hit the emergency doctor (35) on the arm, he was slightly injured. The emergency doctor and patient were eventually rescued by the police helicopter. When asked by Krone, the pilot declined to comment on the mission. “He is available to the investigative authorities for information,” it said.

C1 was already hanging by a thread this year
In January, the same helicopter had to be rescued from Axamer Lizum: warning lights came on in the cockpit after the C1 emergency medical helicopter landed on a ski slope in Axamer Lizum in January this year. As the investigation revealed, the aircraft had slid back slightly on a hard runway after landing. A “mast torque overload” had occurred on the rotor. Aviation regulations then prohibit a new start.

Recovery raised questions
The ÖAMTC air rescue service had no choice but to partially dismantle the helicopter, ie remove the rotor blades, and fly the fuselage into the valley with a cargo helicopter. The rescue during the opening hours of the ski area and via a cable car route caused incomprehension: “If we had done that, we would have been pilloried,” said flight operator Roy Knaus about the case. Videos of it went viral online.

Long journey from Switzerland
Knaus also criticized the fact that the Vorarlberg company Wucher had been ordered to remove the faulty machine from the ÖAMTC. “And she flew a helicopter from far Switzerland to the Axamer Lizum. We had a suitable machine ready in Hochgurgl,” Knaus wondered.

Ground contacts with fatal consequences
Helicopter blade contacts with objects usually have the most fatal consequences: in 2017, a Bell Cobra at Höfen Airport was totally destroyed when the rotor hit the roof of the house. Heli-Tyrol pilot and boss Roy Knaus describes his experiences: “Twenty years ago I touched the blade twice myself, one was through no fault of my own, I didn’t even notice anything and only saw light marks on the blade on the ground. Later on the Kitzsteinhorn I flew too close to a mixing machine and damaged the blades. In both cases they were repairable. all a matter of luck.”