Malaysian probe details 2023 rollover of fire department AW189 helicopter

An official investigation report has detailed the circumstances of a July 2023 accident in which a Leonardo AW189 helicopter operated by Malaysia's Fire and Rescue Department rolled over on the ground at a Kuala Lumpur aviation training campus. All seven people aboard escaped with only minor injuries.

According to the Air Accident Investigation Bureau of Malaysia, which published its findings roughly a year after the event, the helicopter had just completed base maintenance and was undergoing ground runs requested by a contracted maintenance provider to check rotor track and balance. After two successful ground runs, engineers asked the crew to proceed to hover checks at low altitude.

The report states that conditions appeared normal as the aircraft taxied toward the designated hover test area. However, as it neared the site, a yaw trim failure indication appeared, according to the investigation's account of the sequence of events preceding the loss of control.

The aircraft, delivered to the fire department in 2018, was flown by a pilot with about 1,820 total flying hours, including 774 on the AW189 type, alongside a copilot with roughly 1,187 hours, of which 1,026 were on type. Investigators noted that maintenance personnel, including an engineer in charge and a technician, along with an on-the-job training student, were involved in the ground testing that preceded the accident.

The fire department's aviation unit, established in 1998 and operated under Malaysia's Ministry of Housing and Local Government, had contracted a Part 145 maintenance organisation for the work. Further detail on the root cause of the yaw trim failure and any resulting safety recommendations was not included in the available extract.