Accident involving NRI businessman M.A. Yusuf Ali
Accident involving NRI businessman M.A. Yusuf Ali
The investigation report of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the chopper accident involving NRI businessman M.A. Yusuff Ali onboard an AgustaWestland AW109SP helicopter in Kochi in 2021 reveals that the flight crew were unaware of the helicopter’s continued descend even after the Rate of Descent (RoD) peaked 2,000 feet a minute at very low altitude.
Though it was widely reported that the chopper made an emergency landing following a ‘loss of power,’ the report points to a combination of errors committed by the crew during the flight, which resulted in the hard landing of the chopper.
The helicopter was flown manually by the pilot-in-command (PIC) and the flight crew had activated the engine torque limiter to 220% instead of activating the maximum torque before take-off. It was only after losing considerable height that the pilot maneuvered the helicopter with an unusual high pitch attitude with a low torque setting, resulting in a high rate of descent at low altitude.
Subsequently, the helicopter entered into Vortex Ring State, almost a non-recoverable stage, represented by severe loss of lift. Subsequently, the pilot lost control of the helicopter and the chopper impacted the ground, the report said.
Though the pilot applied full collective upon realising the loss of altitude — increasing the torque by both the engines — the cap (220%) set by Engine Torque Limiter caused the main rotor speed to droop, activating Rotor Low warning. The low torque setting was not noticed by the flight crew and not corrected on time, which resulted in the helicopter losing altitude rapidly.
The report also said the first officer (pilot monitoring) did not monitor flight parameters during the critical phase of flight. Further, the entire conversations of crew and Air Traffic Control (ATC) were overlapped with inter-cabin conversations (passenger conversation) as the crew did not isolate themselves from the cabin communications, thereby not adhering to the Sterile cockpit.
Non-adherence to standard operating procedures by the crew and lack of situational awareness were also the contributory factors to the incident, the report said.
The incident happened on April 11, 2021 at Panangadu when the businessman was on his way to the rooftop helipad of a private hospital from his residence, which was 3.7 km aerial distance from the helipad. The chopper which was in the approach stage suddenly fell into an open swamp. Luckily, the pax and crew escaped unhurt in the incident.
