2009-12 · NASA ASRS report 863435
AS350 tour pilot reports engine cowling opened in flight striking the main rotor system. A precautionary landing was made and the passengers transferred to another helicopter; before flying the aircraft to a nearby airport after examination by a mechanic who also reported about the blade damage.
I was informed by our company flight follower on duty; that one of our aircraft had a problem in flight. I ordered the initiation of our Emergency Response Plan. The pilot reported to another company helicopter that he heard a bang and extensive vibrations occurred. The other company aircraft in trail flew next to the helicopter and determined that the left engine cowling had not been latched and was flapping into the main rotor system. The pilot made the decision to land off airport in a desert area about eight miles Northeast of ZZZ. The other company helicopter circled above and relayed to operations that the aircraft landed safely. As Director of Operations; I was satisfied that this flight had terminated safely without further incident. Another company aircraft was dispatched to pick up the passengers from the desert area. On board the helicopter was a mechanic to assess the damage and to make note of parts needing replacement and tools required. Other arrangements were being made to transport myself (Director of Operations); our Director of Maintenance and company CEO to the site for assessment. Over our company frequency; I heard the damaged helicopter report that he was in flight and on his way back to ZZZ1. This flight was unauthorized by me. No other person with operational control in the company authorized this flight. Upon discovery of this flight. I gave the pilot strict orders; through a flight follower in radio contact; to terminate the flight immediately and to put the aircraft on the ground. He flew the aircraft from the desert area to the ZZZ airport. The pilot did not conduct a proper preflight ensuring that the latches were secure. He conducted an unauthorized flight in a damaged aircraft which I did not consider airworthy with the information provided to me at the time. The mechanic simply removed the engine cowling and considered the aircraft airworthy. He was a passenger aboard the flight from the desert area to ZZZ.
When I; the Mechanic; was eating lunch; the pilot came over to me and said; 'did you hear about the Twin Star?' I said no. When I got to the dispatch area; the Dispatcher informed me that I will be flying out with this pilot to work on the Twin Star and to take all the tools I would need to work on it. As I was waiting on the pilot I called the Director of Maintenance (DOM) to inform him what was going on. Without even knowing clearly where the Twin Star was; the pilot was informed of three possible locations. We started flying; looking as we went. When we found the Twin Star it was sitting on a desert road in the middle of nowhere. No facilities were close by. We landed the helicopter and loaded up the passengers into the one I flew there in. I walked over to the Twin Star and started looking at everything to see how bad it was. I found the lower part of the engine cowling missing; so I took the remaining half of the cowling off to get a better look. I went up on the helicopter and started looking at the blades. At first they didn't look too bad. The Red Blade took the most of the hit. The other two seemed to be 'OK'. On the Red Blade; the leading edge protecting cover was torn up. I informed the Pilot what I had found. He asked me; 'can it be flown?' I said; 'I don't know. I don't think so; but I guess that's up to you with all this damage here.' I don't think he heard me. He started telling me the story of what happened. How he had one of the other pilot's flying behind him; looking at the helicopter; because there was this noise. I looked at my phone and I had no signal at all. The pilot stated that he tried the radio and his phone. He wasn't able to get a hold of anyone and that he had to use the other helicopter. Somehow in the middle of all this; a decision was made by the Pilot to fly it back. He put the engine cowling in the back seat and started to prep the helicopter for flight. Not wanting to be stuck in the middle of the desert; with no emergency supplies; with the weather getting down to freezing temperature at night; and a Pilot telling me that its 'OK' to fly with the engine cowling off; that it was just like flying without the doors on. I felt it was an emergency situation; I reluctantly became a passenger on this flight. The pilot started the engines and flew the aircraft to ZZZ.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.