Incident Overview
On March 5, 2009, at approximately 2010 eastern standard time, an Agusta A109E helicopter, registration N911UF, operated by Air Methods Corporation as a ShandsCair medical evacuation flight, incurred minor damage from a bird strike while on approach to Gainesville, Florida. The certificated airline transport pilot sustained minor injuries; the flight nurse, flight paramedic, and trauma patient were not injured. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the flight between an automobile accident site in Trenton, Florida, and Shands Helistop (FA12), Gainesville. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 135.
Sequence of Events
According to the pilot, the incident occurred when the helicopter was about three minutes from the hospital's rooftop helipad. The helicopter was descending at 145 knots through 800 feet when the windshield "exploded." The pilot was struck by plexiglass and other debris. The master caution warning light illuminated, but the pilot had difficulty reading the caution warning lights because the left lens of his eyeglasses was missing. He eventually determined that SAS number 1 had disengaged; after resetting the switches, the master caution light extinguished.
The pilot noted that the instrument panel lights were off on his side, so he reached up to the overhead panel and turned them back on. He observed several circuit breakers and switches broken off, and several other switches moved aft to the "off" position. The entire overhead panel was covered in blood.
Despite wind noise, the helicopter operated normally, and the pilot landed at its home base ground helipad without further incident. The patient was then transferred one mile to the hospital's emergency room by ambulance.
Postflight Examination
Examination revealed that a 2- to 3-pound duck had impacted the helicopter and came to rest inside the cabin at the feet of a medical crewmember. The impact broke off the landing light switch and turned off the navigation lights and anti-collision light. The pilot's instrument panel lights rheostat was rotated to the point of turning off the lights, and circuit breakers for the number 2 engine starter/generator were broken off, though the circuits remained energized. The circuit breaker for the "Outer Link" satellite tracking system was deactivated, causing the ShandsCair communication center to lose flight tracking at 2008.
Blood was also found on one of the main rotor blades. The pilot noted that aside from electrical switches, the power control levers were on the overhead panel; if they had moved aft, engine power would have been reduced. A photograph of the overhead panel showed no forward shielding of the switches and throttles.
Shards from the shattered windshield were sent to the Safety Board for examination. Plastic windshield fractures were found to be "typical of brittle overstress under primarily bending deformation."
Additional bird strike information can be found at the FAA Wildlife Mitigation webpage.