NTSB PHOTO
just passed her nursing board exams and wanted to be available to help during the flight. The helicopter lifted off at 1:52:17. Things began to fall apart almost at once. Both the
cyclic and collective FTR switches were engaged imme- diately. The helicopter climbed vertically to 62 ft. above ground level at zero airspeed before the SIC advised “push that nose forward, get some airspeed.”
of just 52 ft. before beginning to climb again as its left turn continued. In the 14 seconds from 1:52:51 to 1:53:05, the EGPWS issued nine separate terrain warn- ings. The cyclic remained under manual control with the FTR engaged.
Climbing through 78 ft., the PIC asked, “How high are
you?” but the SIC didn’t reply. Three seconds later, pass- ing through 116 ft., the PIC said, “Three hundred feet,” apparently having mis- taken vertical speed for altitude: the helicopter was then climbing at 300 fpm. The SIC replied, “We’re
not,” to which the PIC answered, “That’s what it says here.” At 1:53:05, the SIC observed that they’d been “diving.” The EGPWS warnings ended once they reached 150 ft. Meanwhile, the autopilot began lowering collective in an attempt to reduce their rate of climb to its target of 100 fpm. After 20 seconds of nose-up or nose-level flight, the helicopter pitched down again at 1:53:11. Two seconds later,
The left side of the accident fuselage following recovery.
The collective FTR was released at 1:52:28. Nose-
down cyclic inputs pushed the helicopter’s pitch attitude below horizontal, and it gained speed while continuing to climb. At 184 ft. and 53 kt. airspeed, the SIC warned, “Watch your altitude.” Pitch attitude was 12 degrees nose down. The helicopter reached 190 ft. at 68 kt., then began to descend while banking left. At 1:52:48, the CVR recorded automated warnings of “sink,” “warning terrain,” and “one hundred fifty feet” generated by the enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS). The helicopter was 110 ft. above the water and descending at 1,380 ft. per minute (fpm) when the auto- pilot was engaged in both the “altitude acquire” and “indicated airspeed” modes. Target altitude was set at 1,000 ft. The collective FTR switch was briefly activated at the same time. Because the helicopter was below its target altitude and descending, this reset the autopilot’s target rate of climb from 1,000 to 100 fpm, a design feature of the system. The ship pitched up and reached an altitude
64 ROTOR SEPTEMBER 2022
it reached its maximum altitude of 212 ft. while banked 30 degrees left, then began descending again as the autopilot gradually raised the collective. EGPWS warn- ings resumed. The SIC said, “There was a fatal accident in the United Kingdom, and this is exactly what happened there.” Descending nose-low with airspeed building, the PIC asked the SIC for headings several times and for alti- tude once but got no reply. Impact occurred at 1:53:22 in a 12-degree left bank and a pitch of 7 degrees nose-down. Two witnesses about 1.6 nm to the southwest heard the impact and set out to search in a spotlight-equipped boat but couldn’t find the helicopter. The flight wasn’t reported missing until the following afternoon, when another company pilot learned that it had never reached Fort Lauderdale. The FAA was notified and issued an alert notice. The company pilot set out to search in a float- equipped Cessna Caravan but was unsuccessful. The
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