Accident Description
On 22 October 2021, at 14:51 UTC, a Eurocopter AS-350-B3 (registration EC-JEA, serial number 3819) operated by Eliance Helicopter Global Services was conducting a training flight with two crew members—an instructor pilot and a pilot under instruction—in the municipality of Naut Aran, Lleida, Spain. During the flight, the crew was performing a governor failure simulation maneuver. While executing this maneuver, the aircraft made a hard landing, causing one of its skids to break and resulting in significant damage to the helicopter. Both crew members were unharmed and exited the aircraft by their own means.
Investigation Findings
The investigation conducted by the Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission (CIAIAC) identified that the crew had inadequate understanding of the governor failure training procedure. The pilot under instruction improperly executed the reversion to the automatic mode of the governor's operation, likely due to overconfidence and poor monitoring of flight parameters. The instructor pilot failed to provide adequate supervision to recover from the emergency. Additionally, a suitable training area with appropriate safety conditions for such an emergency maneuver was not selected.
Probable Cause
The probable cause of the accident was the inadequate execution of the governor failure simulation procedure, which resulted in a loss of control of the aircraft, causing it to impact the ground.
Contributing Factors
Several factors contributed to the accident: inadequate supervision by the instructor pilot, loss of situational awareness by the student pilot leading to improper execution, confusion and inadequate understanding of the procedure, and failure to select a safe training area.
Safety Recommendations
The report contains three safety recommendations. Two are addressed to the operator concerning the governor failure simulation training procedure and ensuring correct functioning of fleet tracking systems. The third is addressed to the aircraft manufacturer regarding the dual control twist grip installed for training on the AS-350-B3 2B helicopter.