History of Flight
On 23 March 2013, a Bell 206B helicopter, registration ZS-HSR, operated by King Shaka Aviation, was conducting a commercial charter flight. The helicopter departed from Virginia Airfield (FAVG) at 10:00 UTC and flew uneventfully to Pietermaritzburg Airport (FAPM) to pick up four passengers for a wedding. After boarding, the pilot received departure clearance from FAPM ATC and was cleared to climb to 500 feet AGL with direct routing to the intended landing site at Pietermaritzburg Botanical Gardens (PBG), approximately 3.71 nm from the runway threshold. The takeoff and climb were uneventful. The weather was clear with surface wind from 160° at 18 knots, giving a tailwind component.
On initial approach, the pilot circled the intended landing spot in a right-hand pattern. Without warning, the aircraft lost about 50 feet of altitude and continued descending rapidly while yawing increasingly to the right. The pilot attempted to recover by reducing power and lowering the nose, but the rate of descent was too high and the aircraft was too close to the ground. The helicopter impacted the ground, with the first impact on one side of Zwartkops Street, then the resultant forces pushed it across to the opposite side between the street and the botanical gardens, where it came to rest.
Injuries and Damage
The pilot sustained a serious spinal injury requiring two surgeries and a month of hospitalization. The four passengers suffered minor injuries and were treated and discharged on the day of the accident. No fatalities occurred. The helicopter was completely destroyed (substantial damage). The main rotor was sheared off the mast and found approximately 2 metres from the wreckage; a piece of rotor blade about 1 metre long was found 120 metres away. Landing skids bent and tore through the floor into the fuselage, the transmission system was dislodged, and the tail boom outer skin was ripped open. Doors, windshield, and windows were broken; chair mountings were dislodged. No pre- or post-impact fire occurred. The accident caused approximately 10 metres of damage to the botanical gardens' palisade fence and severed some tree branches and a 20 cm thick tree trunk.
Probable Cause
The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) determined the probable cause as loss of control during approach, with a contributing factor of poor in-flight planning.