Write a commentThe initial Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) has published it’s preliminary report into the Helicopter Crash on the 13th of March near Gillingham Hall, Norfolk which claimed the lives of Pilot Carl Dickerson and Co Pilot Lee Hoyle, Lord Ballyedmond, founder of Norbrook Laboratories and Declan Small from Mayobridge.
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The report states that the helicopter was scheduled to depart Gillingham Hall for Coventry Airport at 18:30hrs but it didn’t depart until around 19:20hrs by which time night had fallen and dense fog had developed.
The helicopter struck the ground in a gently rising field, approximately 420m from the take off point. There was no evidence of the helicopter making contact with any other object prior to this.
The flight recorded data is subject to on-going analysis but in the report it states that “The recorded data includes parameters relating to cautions, warnings and faults. None were active during the accident flight with the exception of the last data points when full collective had been applied and a gearbox torque-related caution was triggered.”
The initial AAIB report finishes “AAIB investigation to date has not identified any technical malfunction which might account for the accident. The investigation continues, with the aim of identifying any technical matters of relevance, as well as focussing on flight in degraded visual environments.”
