HELI HOVER TAXI AVOIDING OTHER ACFT STRIKES TAIL BOOM.

1995-11 · NASA ASRS report 321166

Date: 1995-11 · Aircraft: S-76/S-76 Mark II

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|other-unspecified

Synopsis

HELI HOVER TAXI AVOIDING OTHER ACFT STRIKES TAIL BOOM.

Narrative

ON FEB/XX/95; AFTER MAKING A NIGHT VFR LNDG IN A SIKORSKY S76B HELI; I HAD TO MANEUVER TO AVOID A TAXIING AIRPLANE WHILE AT A HOVER. THE MANEUVER CAUSED THE TAIL BOOM TO CONTACT THE TXWY RESULTING IN SCRAPED PAINT ON THE HELI AND A BRUISED EGO. I WAS AT THE L SEAT CTLS OF THE HELI; AND HAD BEEN CLRED TO LAND AT RWY 30 AND TXWY C; OUR NORMALLY REQUESTED LNDG TARGET. WHILE CLRING THE RWY AND PREPARING TO TOUCH DOWN BEYOND THE TXWY C HOLD LINE; THE R SEAT PLT ALERTED ME TO A JETSTREAM TURBOPROP TO PORT. THE JETSTREAM WAS TAXIING ALONG TXWY B; WHICH PARALLELS RWY 30; TOWARD TXWY C. NEITHER I OR THE R SEAT PLT HAD SEEN THIS ACFT DURING THE APCH DUE TO A NUMBER OF FACTORS WHICH I WILL DESCRIBE LATER IN THE RPT. SURPRISED AT SEEING THE ACFT FOR THE FIRST TIME AND AT SUCH CLOSE PROX; I IMMEDIATELY MANEUVERED TO STOP MY FORWARD PROGRESS. SINCE I WAS DSNDING FOR A FORWARD HOVER AT A LOW PWR SETTING AND A LOW ALT; MY MANEUVER; AN APPLICATION OF PWR BY INCREASING COLLECTIVE PITCH AND AN AFT MOVEMENT OF THE CYCLIC PITCH STICK; RESULTED IN A NOSE-HIGH ATTITUDE AND THE TAIL CONE STRIKING THE TXWY SURFACE. MY PWR APPLICATION INCREASED MY HOVERING ALT AND I BACK-HOVERED CLR OF THE JETSTREAM'S PATH. FORTUNATELY; THE JETSTREAM PLT OBSERVED THE SIT AND HAD STOPPED. THE FACT THAT I DID NOT SEE THAT THERE WAS AN ACFT TAXIING ALONG TXWY B TOWARD TXWY C IS MOST DISTURBING TO ME. IT WAS AN EXCEPTIONALLY CLR NIGHT AND TFC WAS LIGHT. IN RECONSTRUCTING THE SEQUENCE LEADING TO THE INCIDENT I CAME TO THE FOLLOWING CONCLUSIONS: 1) A STRONG L XWIND; CAUSING A CRAB ANGLE ON APCH; AND THE RELATIVELY STEEP APCH ANGLE THAT I USE FOR NOISE ABATEMENT; REQUIRED ME TO LEAN FORWARD AND TO THE L IN ORDER TO SEE THE RWY INTXN THAT WAS THE APCH TARGET. THIS LNDG CONFIGN PLACED THE INST PANEL AND THE LOWER SILL OF THE WINDSHIELD IN A POS TO BLOCK; COMPLETELY; MY VIEW OF THE PARALLEL TXWY B. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE APCH; MY PERIPHERAL VISION DID NOT PICK UP THE JETSTREAM'S LIGHTS OR ITS MOVEMENT DUE TO THE FLOODLIGHTS FROM THE NORTH HANGAR; LIGHTS FROM THE INTERIOR OF THE HANGAR (THE HANGAR DOORS WERE OPEN) AND A FUEL TRUCK THAT WAS SERVICING AN ACFT ON THEIR RAMP. 2) THERE IS A GREY AREA IN DEFINING WHEN A HELI HAS LANDED. MANY HELIS HAVE SKID LNDG GEAR AND ARE REQUIRED TO HOVER- TAXI TO PARKING AREAS. ALTHOUGH THE S76B CAN GND-TAXI ON WHEELS; PLTS ARE ACCUSTOMED TO EXERCISING THEIR OPTION TO EITHER HOVER-TAXI OR TO GND-TAXI IN AREAS THAT POSE NO GUST HAZARD TO AIRPLANES; BUILDINGS; GND VEHICLES OR PEOPLE. I WAS CLRED TO LAND TO RWY 30 AND TXWY C. I OPTED TO ALLOW THE HELI TO WEATHERCOCK INTO THE XWIND; TO LINE UP ON TXWY C; AND TO HOVER-TAXI CLR OF THE RWY; UNAWARE OF THE TAXIING JETSTREAM. 3) AS A DUAL RATED PLT; I KNOW THAT CLRING A RWY MEANS TAXIING BEYOND THE HOLD-SHORT LINE ON THE FEEDER TXWY. BECAUSE OF THE DISTANCE BTWN RWY 30 AND THE PARALLEL TXWY B; ANY ACFT THAT CLRS THE RWY BEYOND THE TXWY HOLD-SHORT LINE AT TXWY C WILL BLOCK THE INTXN OF TXWYS B AND C. 4) IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THE TWR IS NOT REQUIRED TO ALERT US TO TAXIING ACFT UNLESS THEY OBSERVE OR HAVE ISSUED A CLRNC THAT HAS A POTENTIAL FOR CONFLICT. AT MMU; WE ARE ACCUSTOMED TO THE TWR ALERTING US TO TAXIING ACFT EVEN WHEN THEY POSE NO POTENTIAL FOR CONFLICT. IN ANY CASE; THE TWR DID NOT ALERT US TO THE PRESENCE OF THE TAXIING JETSTREAM. THERE ARE PROCS THAT WE AS HELI PLTS CAN ADOPT THAT MAY ELIMINATE INCIDENTS OF THIS KIND. THE UNDERSTANDING THAT HELIS ARE MORE FLEXIBLE IN THEIR OPERATIONAL CAPABILITIES HAS LED PLTS TO OPT FOR 'EFFICIENT' FLYING AT ARPTS IN ORDER NOT TO IMPACT ON THE FLOW OF FIXED WING TFC. IN FACT; AT ALL OF THE METROPOLITAN ARPTS IN THE REGION; WE ARE ASKED REGULARLY TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS AND DEVS WHICH ARE SAFE AND WELL WITHIN HELI OPERATING LIMITS FOR THAT PURPOSE. HOWEVER; AS WITH ANY AVIATION OP; IT IS WORTH A SECOND LOOK TO SEE WHAT CAN BE IMPROVED. IN 30 YRS AND 12000 HRS OF FLYING; THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT I WAS SURPRISED BY AN 'UNKNOWN' ACFT IN A TAXIING SIT. IN THIS CASE; THERE WAS NO COMPELLING REASON TO EXPEDITE CLRING THE RWY SINCE THERE WAS NO ACFT ON FINAL OR IN POS AWAITING TKOF CLRNC. THIS 'EFFICIENCY' WAS THE LAST LINK IN THE CHAIN THAT LED TO THIS INCIDENT. TOUCHING DOWN ON THE RWY AND GND-TAXIING CLR WOULD HAVE GIVEN ME TIME TO OBSERVE THE PRESENCE OF THE JETSTREAM EVEN WITH THE OTHER FACTORS THAT EXISTED. IN THE FUTURE; WHEN FLYING A WHEELED HELI; I WILL GND-TAXI CLR OF RWYS AS A NORMAL PROC; UNLESS REQUESTED TO EXPEDITE.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

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