Copterline Flight 103

Copterline Flight 103

Accident summary
Date	August 10, 2005 (2005-08-10)
Type	Servo failure
Site	Gulf of Finland, outside Tallinn, Estonia
Passengers	12
Crew	2
Injuries	0
Fatalities	14 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Sikorsky S-76C+
Operator	Copterline
Tail number	OH–HCI, s/n: 760508

Coordinates: 59°32.546′N 024°43.852′E / 59.542433°N 24.730867°E / 59.542433; 24.730867 Copterline Flight 103 (AAQ103) was a Copterline helicopter flight en route to Helsinki, Finland from Tallinn, Estonia that crashed into the sea on August 10, 2005, at 12:45 pm local time.

The Sikorsky S-76C+ crash occurred three to four minutes after taking off. On board were two Finnish crew members and 12 passengers: six Finns, four Estonians and two Americans. There were no survivors.

The helicopter was flying at an altitude of about 500 metres when it suddenly lost its steerability and plunged into the sea. The emergency floats failed to operate, and the wreck sank quickly. All those on board perished by drowning.

The Sikorsky S-76C+ has emergency pontoons for water landings but they were not deployed, and no distress signals were heard before the crash, although it later emerged that the pilots had tried to send an emergency message shortly before the crash.

Rescuers reached the site in less than 10 minutes to find just one main rotor blade and an oil slick on the water. The wreckage of the helicopter itself was located by sonar operators on the Estonian Maritime Administration vessel EVA-320, who indicated that the aircraft was intact at a depth of roughly 43 meters. Two Estonian deep-sea divers following an earlier unmanned robotic vehicle reported that the bodies of the passengers were inside the craft. Thirteen bodies were retrieved, with one pilot missing. The recovery mission was hindered by rough weather conditions. The wreckage of the aircraft was lifted on August 13, 2005 and transported to Tallinn for investigation. The missing pilot was not found in the initial searches performed by the Estonian and Finnish authorities, but the body was finally located on August 25 and retrieved by volunteer divers some distance away from the accident site. The post mortem indicated that the victims died from drowning.

Copterline S-76C+

The Estonian authorities refused to send the flight data recorder of the helicopter to the United States because the aircraft was manufactured there, thus possibly creating a conflict of interest. The technical investigation was in fact performed in the United Kingdom. The voice recording indicated that the pilots realized that something was wrong only 35 seconds before the helicopter hit the sea, and that they did attempt to send a Mayday message.

The accident investigation board published a preliminary report on September 14, 2005, in which they ruled out most possibilities of physical damage before the helicopter hit water, including sabotage and collision with a flock of birds. As the helicopter was manufactured in the United States, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has taken part into the investigation. In November 2005 NTSB issued an "urgent" recommendation to the FAA that it require all S-76 operators to carry out "immediate visual and laboratory examinations" of main rotor servos for plasma flakes and other contamination. The helicopter manufacturer, Sikorsky Aircraft, rejected these findings, saying it and servo manufacturer HR Textron "do not agree that the servo caused the mishap". In December 2005 the company, however, issued an all-operators letter recommending that operators carry out internal leakage tests of all S-76 main rotor servos, at the same time emphasizing that testing with an intentionally degraded servo "has not identified any safety of flight issues".

The talks between Copterline and Sikorsky Aircraft about how to divide damages arising from the crash broke down in December 2006, and Copterline sued Sikorsky Aircraft in a U.S. court in New York for damages of 60 million US dollars.

In August 2007 it was announced that the cause of the crash was a failure of the hydraulic flight control system, caused by coating flaking off from servo pistons. The loosened plasma coating flakes blocked the return valves of the servos, causing the aircraft to abruptly lose its maneuverability.^[1] Copterline did not have the authority to service or even open these components. However, in the final report, Copterline was criticized for omitting a periodic leak test of the hydraulic flight control system that could have revealed the problem. The Finnish authorities were also criticized for insufficient supervision.

References

1. ^ Helsingin Sanomat 8.8.2007 Loosened servo piston plasma coating confirmed as cause of Copterline crash

• "Estonia helicopter 14 feared dead". BBC News. 2005-08-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4138170.stm. Retrieved 2006-10-16. 
• "Fourteen passengers and crew dead after helicopter crashes in the sea off Estonian coast". Helsingin Sanomat. 2005-08-11. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/1101980551645. Retrieved 2006-10-16. 
• "Helicopter crash victims to be brought to surface today if weather allows". Helsingin Sanomat. 2005-08-11. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/1101980567038. Retrieved 2006-10-16. 
• "Post mortem results indicate helicopter crash victims died from drowning". Helsingin Sanomat. 2005-08-17. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/1101980643479. Retrieved 2006-10-16. 
• "Crew of ill-fated helicopter tried to send emergency message". Helsingin Sanomat. 2005-08-23. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/1101980702516. Retrieved 2006-10-16. 
• Moxon, Julian (2006-08-29). "Fatal August 2005 Copterline S-76C+ crash controversy deepens as Sikorsky rejects NTSB verdict of main rotor servo failure". Flight International. http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/08/29/Navigation/177/208702/Fatal+August+2005+Copterline+S-76C++crash+controversy+deepens+as+Sikorsky+rejects+NTSB+verdict+of.html. Retrieved 2006-10-16. 
• "Copterline and Sikorsky disagree on cause of August 2005 crash". Helsingin Sanomat. 2006-10-16. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Copterline+and+Sikorsky+disagree+on+cause+of+August+2005+crash/1135222346569. Retrieved 2006-10-16. 
• "Preliminary report of Aircraft Accident involving helicopter Sikorsky S76 C+". Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. 2005-09-14. http://www.mkm.ee/index.php?id=8451. Retrieved 2006-10-16. 
• Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (2006-02-15). The helicopter accident investigation commission got together today. Press release.
• "Finnish Copterline seeks damages from Sikorsky". Reuters. 2006-12-31. http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L31798123. Retrieved 2007-01-05. 
• "Final Report. Aircraft Accident Investigation. Copterline Oy. Sikorsky S-76C+. In Tallinn Bay, Estonia on 10 August 2005" (PDF). Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Estonia. 2008-08-06. http://www.mkm.ee/doc.php?322962. Retrieved 2008-08-11. 
• Preliminary accident investigation report (in Estonian)
• Preliminary accident investigation report (in English, and shorter version than the Estonian one)