No pre-existing fault caused crash near Atlantis

A helicopter which crashed on the Palm Jumeirah this year after taking off from Atlantis, seriously injuring two people, was “airworthy at the time of the accident” with no pre-existing faults, a preliminary report into the incident has found.

The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) report into the January 22 crash at the Atlantis, the Palm helipad found the Helidubai-operated Eurocopter EC130 went down soon after taking off at about 3.30pm for its daily final journey from the hotel to Dubai Airport.

In its preliminary findings, which provide no reason for why the crash occurred, the authority said the helicopter climbed about 15-25m before it “descended rapidly, pitched forward while in a continued counter-clockwise turn prior to the contact with the helipad”.

The impact, measured at 20 G-forces, caused the helicopter’s skids to fail, while the loss of its tail rotor following the heavy landing and “numerous collisions with curb structures adjacent to the heliport” resulted in an “uncontrolled rapid counter-clockwise rotation”.

“The aircraft remained on the helipad with the engine running and the damaged rotor blades continued turning while the helicopter was moving down the heliport extended centerline,” the report said. “The helicopter made approximately 50 rotations on the helipad prior to contacting a retaining wall which arrested the rotation.”

The GCAA report said the heliport ground crew were then able to shut down the engine and remove the incapacitated crew – a pilot and ground support officer – who were air lifted to hospital with serious injuries.

The report said an engine examination did not indicate any pre-existing faults. It found the aircraft was airworthy at the time of accident, with reported wind strength light and variable at ground level.

Both crew were subjected to an alcohol and drug test at the hospital, though the results are not given in the report.

The entire accident sequence from lift off to engine stop was five minutes.

A final report, which will include further testing results from the helicopter manufacturer as well as an investigation into organisation and management information, is due to be published within 12 months of the date of the crash.