Helicopter Ground Hooking Incident at Locarno Airport (HB-ZGT)

Incident Overview and Aircraft Details On 10 July 2015 at 13:55 local time, an AS350 B3 helicopter with registration HB-ZKG, operated and owned by Tarmac Aviation SA, was involved in a ground incident at the northern heliport of Locarno Airport (LSZL). The aircraft was on a commercial VFR flight with a destination of Brissago. The pilot, a Swiss national born in 1956, held a commercial helicopter pilot license (CPL(H)) and had a total of 21,310 flight hours, including 6,000 hours on the accident type. ## Sequence of Events During a period of good weather and heavy traffic, the pilot requested takeoff authorization from the tower. While moving north during the takeoff phase, the pilot became aware of resistance in the forward movement. The pilot promptly stopped the helicopter and released a load line that had accidentally become entangled with a nearby parked helicopter, registered HB-ZGT. The pilot's attention had been focused on parachute traffic at the Paracentro square and runway 26R traffic. ## Damage and Injuries The incident resulted in no injuries to the pilot or any third parties. The moving helicopter sustained no damage, but the tail boom of the parked helicopter HB-ZGT was damaged. Following technical checks, the pilot resumed the flight program with the HB-ZKG.