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| Date: | Thursday 25 January 2007 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Bell UH-1H Iroquois |
| Owner/operator: | FFA Assets (Pty) Ltd |
| Registration: | ZU–UHI |
| MSN: | 13729 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1974 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | In a farm dam on the farm Orchards near de Doorns -
 South Africa
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Fire fighting |
| Departure airport: | Tulbagh Aerodrome |
| Farm in the de Doorns district | |
| Investigating agency: | CAA S.A. |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The helicopter was dispatched from Tulbagh Aerodrome to the farm Orchards, near de Doorns, to assist in a fire-fighting operation. The pilot stated that after completion of his fourth successful water drop and as he approached the farm dam in order to uplift water, he heard an unusual noise originating from the rear of the helicopter. As he went through transition into hover flight, the noise level increased considerably and the helicopter started vibrating. A few seconds later the pilot observed smoke in the corner of his eye appearing to be coming from the rear of the helicopter. Almost immediately the helicopter yawed to the left and the low rotor revolution per minute (RPM) warning light illuminated on the annunciator panel and the audio warning sounded. He was unable to maintain altitude and had no other option but to execute an emergency landing by ditching in the dam. The pilot was not injured in the accident and he managed to escape from the helicopter and swam to shore. Following recovery of the helicopter from the dam the engine was removed and was subjected to a teardown inspection, which revealed an internal bearing failure as a result of the failure of a carbon seal. Probable Cause The engine failed as result of an internal bearing seizure/failure, the helicopter lost altitude and impacted with the water. CA 12-12a 23 FEBRUARY 2006 Page 2 of 13
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
S.A. CAA
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 22 April 2015 | ZU-UHI | Working on fire (WOF) FFA Assets Pty Ltd | 2 | Bainskloof near Wellington in the Western Cape | |
w/o |
| Loss of tail-rotor effectiveness (LTE) | ||||||
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 09-Oct-2023 17:31 | harro | Updated |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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