Incident Overview
On July 31, 1997, a serious aviation accident occurred during a medical rescue mission near Leysin in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. The incident involved an Agusta A109K2 helicopter registered as HB-XWD, operated by Swiss Air-Ambulance Ltd. The accident took place at a location known as "Les Combettes" in Veyges, situated at an altitude of 1,070 meters above sea level.
Operational Context and Sequence of Events
The helicopter was initially engaged in a rescue training exercise at Gastlosen with the Fribourg cantonal police and Swiss Alpine Club guides. Around 17:10 local time, the crew received a primary intervention call for a mountain bike accident involving a young female cyclist in the forest near Veyges. Upon arrival, the crew determined that landing was impossible due to terrain constraints and decided to use the external winch system to lower the REGA physician.
The physician was successfully lowered to the scene. Subsequently, the crew prepared a stretcher for transporting the injured patient. By 17:50, the helicopter repositioned to retrieve both the physician and the patient using the horizontal net method. During the ascent, the winch operator heard a noise from the system and observed a jam in the cable winding mechanism. The deployment indicator showed 3.50 meters of cable out. Attempts to resolve the issue via electrical controls by both the winch operator and the pilot failed.
Accident Mechanics and Consequences
The pilot and winch operator decided to move the suspended individuals toward the prepared stretcher in a nearby clearing. As the helicopter performed a slow turn to align with the slope and the stretcher, it was approximately 15 meters above the ground and ten meters from the target. At this moment, the winch cable snapped.
The physician and the patient fell into the grass. The REGA physician died at the scene from traumatic injuries. The cyclist was transported to the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) by another helicopter but succumbed to her injuries that evening. Post-accident inspection revealed that the helicopter itself sustained no damage, but the winch cable was broken and the system jammed. Investigations indicated that several orange strands of the cable were visible upstream of the tension system, suggesting pre-existing damage or failure initiation near the point of rupture.