Incident Details
A helicopter was positioning next to a powerline tower while in an out of ground effect hover. During the hover, the engine out warning horn sounded, alerting the pilot of a possible power loss. The pilot backed the helicopter away from the tower, lowered the collective, and turned to the left to avoid the tower. Approximately 10–15 feet above the ground, the engine lost additional power, causing the helicopter to descend rapidly. Just prior to impact, the pilot applied maximum collective, and the helicopter landed hard. After landing, the pilot shut down the engine.
Post-Incident Investigation
The engine was removed and accelerated in a test cell from 70 percent to 95 percent torque. No discrepancies were noted, and power calibrations were computed. The computed power calibrations revealed that the engine was producing 12 percent more than rated power. The fuel control unit was removed from the engine, inspected, and tested. No conditions were found that would have prohibited the unit from operating normally at the time of the incident.