Overview
On 2 May 2005 at 1230Z, a Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter, registration ZS-RWW, was involved in an incident while en route from the Wild Coast Sun Hotel/Golf Resort to Margate Aerodrome. The aircraft was operating a commercial charter flight. There was one pilot on board; no injuries or fatalities were reported.
Flight Details
The pilot had just completed a domestic charter flight from Durban to the Wild Coast Sun. After landing at the hotel helipad, passengers disembarked, and the pilot departed for Margate Aerodrome to refuel. The flight was conducted along the coast at an altitude of approximately 500 ft above ground level (AGL) and about 200 m seaward from the shoreline. Weather conditions included surface wind from 180° at 8 to 15 kts, temperature 20°C, 3/8 cloud cover, and visibility 6 to 7 km.
Incident
During the flight, the pilot noticed an orange/yellow object in his peripheral vision at the three o’clock position. Suspecting it might be a bird or a plastic bag blown by the stiff southerly breeze, he looked again but the object was gone. Unsure if a collision had occurred, he checked all flight controls; everything appeared normal. He continued to Margate Aerodrome, landing without incident five to seven minutes later.
Post-flight Inspection
After refueling, the pilot conducted a between-flight inspection and discovered a substantial amount of fishing line entangled around the 90° tail rotor gearbox shaft and the tail rotor hub assembly. A maintenance engineer was consulted and noted no visible damage; tail rotor operation was unaffected. The pilot then performed hover turns near the ground to verify tail rotor authority, finding no anomalies. The helicopter returned to the Wild Coast Sun, picked up passengers, and flew back to Durban without further incident.
Conclusion
Nobody was injured in the incident.