Introduction
On 26 April 2014, a British Army Lynx Mk9A helicopter, registration ZF540, crashed approximately 20 km south of Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, at about 1031 hours local time. The aircraft was conducting a training sortie involving air-to-ground gunnery live-firing. All three crew members and two passengers on board were killed. The accident is under investigation by a Service Inquiry Panel (SIP) established by the Military Aviation Authority.
Flight History
On the day of the accident, the crew of ZF540 (designated Lynx 1) briefed at 0900 hours as the lead element of a pair of Lynx helicopters. The sortie was planned from 1000 to 1130 hours and included two passengers to provide them with insight into the aircraft’s role. Weather conditions were clear with 40 km visibility, an outside air temperature of +25°C, and light wind; a light northerly wind was reported at the gunnery location.
The training area was a valley oriented north-south with desert to the west and practice targets in uninhabited mountains to the east. The plan included a dry clearance run, three pairs gunnery runs, followed by single-aircraft shoots. The single-aircraft runs involved one aircraft entering from the south while the other exited to the north, with 1–3 km separation, heights of 50–200 ft, and speeds of 60–80 kts. A left-hand circuit was planned.
Both aircraft took off at 1000 hours and proceeded at low level. The clearance run and three pairs runs were completed without incident. Lynx 2, in trail, reported no issues with Lynx 1. After the pairs runs, Lynx 2 overtook Lynx 1 on the downwind leg to become the lead.
Subsequent single-aircraft runs were conducted with aircraft not in visual contact due to terrain masking. After completing its first run, the crew of Lynx 2 observed black smoke at the southern end of the valley during a climbing left turn. Lynx 2 proceeded to the area and found that Lynx 1 had crashed.
Impact and Investigation
Analysis of the crash site indicates that Lynx 1 impacted the valley floor in a wings-level, nose-up attitude with forward speed and a rate of descent yet to be determined. There were no survivors or witnesses. The aircraft sustained considerable damage from impact and post-crash fire. The Cockpit Voice Recorder was recovered and captured the last 30 minutes of flight. The wreckage recovered is less than 50% of the original aircraft, with much of it fire-damaged.
The Service Inquiry Panel has ruled out enemy action as a causal factor. The area was uninhabited, and clearance before and after the accident revealed no evidence of hostile activity. Neither the wreckage nor the CVR indicates enemy action.
Technical and Human Factors
Technical analysis is ongoing. Major components including engines, electronic engine control units, main and tail rotor gearboxes, tail boom, and main rotor head have been recovered and are being examined. The CVR shows controlled flight and no crew acknowledgment of a malfunction. To date, no evidence suggests technical failure, and there are no immediate safety concerns for the Lynx Mk9A fleet. Further technical analysis is being undertaken.
The investigation is also pursuing human factors lines of inquiry, though no findings have been released.
Conclusion
While the cause of the accident has not been confirmed, the Service Inquiry Panel is confident that enemy action was not a factor. The inquiry continues to gather evidence to close other possible lines of inquiry.