What happened
On March 13, 2015, an AS350 B2 helicopter, registration F-GIJQ, departed from the Carrière Prévot helipad near Cayenne, French Guiana, for a visual flight rules (VFR) mission toward Grand Santi. The flight was being conducted for private purposes, carrying the pilot and five passengers.
Approximately 40 minutes into the flight, while cruising at roughly 1,700 ft and a speed of 115 kt, the pilot encountered deteriorating meteorological conditions. As the aircraft moved through the area, the pilot lost the necessary visual references required for VFR flight. At 08:44, the helicopter struck the top of a tree approximately 2 nautical miles south of the Trinité Mountains. The impact caused heavy damage to the aircraft, specifically affecting the lower fuselage components—including the cable cutter, taxi light, and Swing system—as well as the right skid step.
Following the collision, the aircraft's radio function became intermittent. After establishing contact with air traffic control, the pilot declared an intention to return to Cayenne Felix Éboué airfield to inspect the damage and disembark the passengers. The passengers were safely delivered to the airfield at approximately 09:30, and the pilot returned to the original departure point by 09:42.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the meteorological environment and the flight path relative to terrain. While official METAR and TAF reports for Cayenne indicated cloud bases between 2,000 and 4,500 ft, the pilot estimated that at the time of the accident, the ceiling had dropped to between 1,500 ft with horizontal visibility exceeding 2,000 meters.
Radar imagery from Kourou revealed a north-south rain line moving west-southwest across the Trinité Mountains at 25 km/h at the time of the event. The investigation also noted that the reference altitude for the Trinité Mountains is 2,086 ft, which was higher than the aircraft's altitude at the moment of impact.