Accident · 2015-07-03

What the record says

Event date

2015-07-03

Event type

Accident

Highest injury level

Fatal injury

Aircraft

AIRBUS HELICOPTERS INC AS350B3E (N390LG)

Operating rule

Part 135

Operator

Air Methods Corp. Operator named in NTSB report

Operated by (per NTSB report)

AIR METHODS CORP

Probable cause

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.

Flight crew

Certification and experience as recorded in the NTSB accident database for this event. The NTSB records these facts about the crew's flying history; GroundCheck shows them as filed, without names or identities.