Bell 206L-3 Forced Landing in Maize Field Near Three Rivers (ZS-HUP)

Incident Overview and Operation Details On the morning of Tuesday, 5 April 2005, a Bell 206L-3 helicopter, registered ZS-HUP, was conducting commercial power line maintenance operations in the Three Rivers area. The aircraft was operating from a substation near Three Rivers to support maintenance on the Eskom Glockner Lethabo 2, 275-kilovolt line. The pilot-in-command held an Airline Transport Pilot licence and had a total of 7,200.0 flying hours, including 1,400.0 hours on the Bell 206L-3 type. The operator, Sapphire Air, held a valid Air Operating Certificate (No. N303D) at the time of the incident. ## Sequence of Events Prior to the first flight of the day, the pilot completed a pre-flight inspection and conducted a safety briefing with the live-line maintenance team. During the operation, maintenance personnel were being transferred from tower 43 to tower 44. After all workers had departed the helicopter, the pilot positioned the aircraft on the left-hand side of tower 43, facing in a north-westerly direction. While established in an out-of-ground effect hover at approximately 100 feet, the pilot reported that the engine suffered a power loss. Unable to maintain further flight, the pilot initiated a hovering autorotation from 100 feet and landed hard in a maize field adjacent to the power lines. The pilot, who was the sole occupant of the helicopter at the time, was not injured. ## Aircraft Maintenance and Meteorological Conditions The last Mandatory Periodic Inspection (MPI) for the aircraft was certified on 15 March 2005 at 9,361.0 airframe hours. Since that inspection, a further 55.6 hours had been flown. At the time of the accident, meteorological conditions included a surface wind from 090° at light strength, a temperature of 22°C, visibility greater than 10 km, and cloud cover of 1/8. The accident site was located on a farm near Three Rivers, with GPS coordinates of 26° 40.0’ South, 028° 01.0’ East, at an elevation of 4,500 feet AMSL.