discussion of the conditions; the SIC assured his col- league that he “was night current,” had “done a lot of night flying,” and was accustomed to making off-airport landings after dark. They arrived at Big Grand Cay at 1:42 am and landed on the island’s 40-by-40-ft. helipad. The pad was unlit, so floodlights mounted on golf carts had been positioned where they wouldn’t interfere with the pilots’ vision. They kept the engines running after landing to board the passengers without delay.
The Aircraft The 2007-model helicopter had a five-bladed, fully articu- lated main rotor system and a four-bladed, fully articu- lated tail rotor powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67C turboshaft engines, each rated for 1,531 shp. The aircraft was equipped with a Honeywell Primus Epic integrated avionics suite that included an automatic flight control system (AFCS) utilizing two four-axis auto- pilots, each capable of controlling the aircraft if the other failed. Force trim release (FTR) switches on the cyclic and
collective controls enabled either pilot to override the autopilot and hand-fly that control as long as the switch was depressed. The FTR switches could also be used to reset the autopilots’ input parameters. Depending on which autopilot mode was in use, the AFCS captured the indicated airspeed, vertical speed, or altitude at the moment the FTR was released. A Penny & Giles multi- purpose flight recorder combined the functions of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders. The helicopter had flown 2,158 hours as of the day of
the flight. An extensive series of 25-, 50-, 300-, and 600- hour repetitive inspections had been completed on Jun. 28, just 4 flight hours earlier, along with annual oil changes in the main, intermediate, and tail gearboxes. Track and balance of the main- and tail-rotor systems was also checked, and repairs made to the landing gear and rotating scissor assemblies.
The Pilots The 56-year-old pilot in command (PIC) was a longtime close friend of the owner. He held a commercial certifi- cate with ratings for single-engine seaplanes and single- and multi-engine airplanes as well as an instrument rating for helicopters. In the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report, his total flight experience in all aircraft was given as 2,241 hours, but his pilot log was kept on an iPad from which no data could be recovered, so his make-and-model time, night currency, and instru- ment currency couldn’t be determined. According to the operator’s chief pilot, the PIC exercised operational
control over the helicopter. His second-class medical cer- tificate was issued in December 2018. The 52-year-old SIC held an airline transport certificate
for helicopters with commercial privileges for gyroplanes and a flight instructor’s certificate for both classes of rotorcraft. He’d given the PIC, already a fixed-wing pilot, his initial helicopter instruction in 2004 and they’d been friends since, starting an aviation business together. The SIC had accumulated 12,200 hours of total flight time. Though the SIC held no US fixed-wing ratings, the chief pilot recalled hearing that he’d previously flown fighter jets for the Royal Air Force. His second-class medical certificate was issued in April 2019. According to his girlfriend, the PIC didn’t like to fly at night and rarely did so, characterizing it as “a whole dif- ferent ballgame.” She believed this was the first time he’d flown to the island after dark. The SIC’s wife reported that he enjoyed night flying and had logged about 1,450 hours at night, most recently on May 25, six weeks before the accident. The two pilots had been paired during their initial
type-rating training in the AW139, which included instru- ment takeoffs and unusual attitude recoveries. The SIC’s instructor commented that he showed “great under- standing of instrument procedures and FMS [flight man- agement systems], but not always using a checklist led to momentary loss of situational awareness.” He also noted that the SIC “struggled with [crew resource man- agement] … wanting to fly single-pilot, especially during emergency training.” Both pilots passed Part 61 checkrides and proficiency
checks in November 2018, though the PIC was rated below average on airman’s skill-decisiveness as well as overall. His instructor wrote that “progressive training/ checking was halted and changed to traditional 61.58 training due to the applicant not reaching the required proficiency.”
The Flight The flight lasted less than 2 minutes and covered less than 2 miles.
At 1:45 am, the PIC used a ForeFlight integrated flight app to file an IFR flight plan requesting direct rout- ing at a cruising altitude of 1,500 ft. and an airspeed of 140 kt. It was never activated. The CVR didn’t record any preflight briefing or discussion of the division of crew responsibilities or procedures for making a dark-night departure over water. At 1:50 am, the PIC said he’d enter the flight plan information into the FMS. Five passengers were boarded, including the owner, the two ailing guests, and two more of their friends, one of whom had
SEPTEMBER 2022 ROTOR 63
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