National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 24, 2010
SB-10-45
The National Transportation Safety Board today released a
final report on a fatal crash involving a transport-category
helicopter caused by a bird strike. The Board said the lack
of requirements for bird strike-resistant windshields
contributed to the crash, and called on the FAA to develop
such requirements.
On January 4, 2009, a dual-engine Sikorsky S-76C++
helicopter (N748P), registered to and operated by PHI, Inc.,
crashed into marshy terrain near Morgan City, Louisiana
approximately 7 minutes after takeoff from Amelie,
Louisiana, on a charter flight to an oil rig in the Gulf of
Mexico. Both pilots and 6 of the 7 passengers were killed
in the crash.
The aircraft had reached level cruise flight at 850 feet
mean sea level and 135 knots when the cockpit voice recorder
recorded a loud bang, followed by sounds consistent with
rushing wind and a power reduction on both engines. The
aircraft crashed several seconds later. Feathers and other
bird debris were collected from the canopy and windshield of
the aircraft. Laboratory analysis identified the remains as
coming from a female red-tailed hawk; the average weight of
such a bird is 2.4 pounds.
The investigation revealed that the impact of the bird on
the canopy just above the windshield near the engine control
quadrant likely jarred the fire extinguisher T-handles out
of their detents and moved them aft, pushing both engine
control levers into or near the flight idle position,
reducing fuel to both engines. The pilots were probably
disoriented from the broken windshield and rushing air and
were unable to react in time to maintain control of the
helicopter.
The helicopter was originally equipped with laminated glass
windshields that complied with European bird-strike
resistance standards. PHI replaced the windshields with
lighter-weight, aftermarket cast acrylic windshields that
did not have any bird-strike resistance standards.
The NTSB determined that the helicopter crashed because of
the sudden loss of power to both engines following the bird
strike and the subsequent disorientation of the crewmembers.
Contributing to the accident, the Board said, were the lack
of FAA regulations and guidance requiring helicopter
windshields to be resistant to bird strikes, the lack of
protections that would prevent the T-handles from
inadvertently dislodging out of their detents, and the lack
of a master warning light and audible system to alert the
flight crew of a low-rotor speed condition.
Recommendations were issued to the FAA dealing with, among
other things, the design of S-76C++ fire extinguisher T-
handles and engine control quadrants, and similar designs of
other helicopters, and of audible low-rotor alarm systems;
certification standards for helicopter windshields; and
simultaneous dual-engine power loss training for helicopter
pilots.
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