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An instructor and student were flying a Utility Helicopters R22 chopper together when it went down on Pannikin, leaving the instructor with serious injuries. In a report released on Tuesday, the ATSB said a decision at the end of the lesson to practice “torque turns”, a manoeuvre that involves quickly completing a 180 degree change in the direction of flight, was unplanned. “If the decision to conduct the torque turns had been agreed before the flight, this would have allowed for a full ground briefing to establish the torque turn procedures, discuss the conduct of the manoeuvre and ensure a common understanding of how the practice turns would be conducted,” ATSB transport safety director Dr Stuart Godley said. Further, the ATSB found the pair started the turn exercises at a low height of 50 feet above ground level rather than “starting higher and working down” as the student’s capability improved. The low level did not allow for any “margin of error”, the ATSB said. “In a training environment, where a student has limited experience to manage unexpected aircraft behaviour, it is vital to ensure and maintain sufficient height for recovery,” Dr Godley said. The pair departed from Archerfield Airport in Brisbane’s south on February 26 about 7.30am, flying to Pannikin to conduct advanced emergency training. The student successfully completed four turns before the breakdown on the fifth attempt. “As the lesson neared completion, they elected to do one more torque turn before returning to base,” the report said. “The instructor recalled noticing the wind had increased a little and had started gusting but stated that these were not considered abnormal conditions and that both he and the student had flown in these conditions before. “The instructor described that at the top of the last torque turn, they were at a height of 100–150ft (above ground level) when they began to descend to build airspeed and return to level flight. “During the recovery, the instructor noticed that the nose of the helicopter was pointing slightly down toward the ground at a height of about 20ft. “The instructor recalled that they were about to correct the student when a sudden gust of wind increased the rate of descent. “Aware of the ground proximity, the instructor immediately took over the controls and recalled moving the cyclic aft to arrest the rate of descent. “The instructor reported the helicopter shuddering, shaking, and experiencing a jolt in the collective but was unable to prevent the helicopter impacting the ground.” The crash was sudden, the pair would later tell the ATSB, and they estimated that they hit the ground at 60 to 70 knots. The chopper skidded for about 40 to 50m before rolling over. The pair were rescued by a colleague who flew in from Archerfield. Paramedics met the instructor and student at the airfield and took them both to hospital. In a fresh warning to other instructors and students, the ATSB said the accident highlighted the importance of sticking to pre-planned training syllabus. “Torque turns are not in the syllabus and are not a requirement for the commercial helicopter pilot licence and were not discussed in the pre-flight brief,” Dr Godley said.
