NTSB recommends copter lever redesign after 2008 crash

November 04, 2010|by Kortnie Westfall | KTUU.com

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that a European helicopter manufacturer change the design of a lever in its Eurocopter AS350-series helicopters due to safety concerns.

The recommendation letter cites a 2008 crash in Alaska, in which four men were killed and a 14-year-old boy was the only survivor.

The NTSB found that the survivor, Quinn Ellington, had inadvertently bumped the fuel flow control lever, which is located on the floor between the two front seats, with either his foot or backpack. The lever's movement caused an overspeed of the helicopter's turbine engine and a loss of engine power, the NTSB found.

The investigation also faulted the pilot for not securing the teen's backpack, and the manufacturer's design and placement of the lever. Other crashes and hard landings have been attributed to the placement of the lever and its inadvertent movement.

The NTSB says that the lever's design, and not only its placement, has been cause for incidents. The lever is too easily moved from the flight position to the emergency-valve-opening travel position, it found.

Larry Lewis with the National Transportation Safety Board in Alaska said while the Chickaloon crash is the only fatal crash they've been able to attribute to the accidental movement of the lever, it may have been a factor in other crashes but not attributed in investigations.

He said the point of the recommendation was not that the lever is pushed either into emergency mode or power-down mode. "The gist is that the lever is there and it can be manipulated inadvertently, and in either direction it causes problems," he said.

The letter recommends that the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration require Eurocopter to review the design and placement of the lever and require modification to ensure that the lever is protected to prevent unintentional movement.
Lewis said the Board can only make recommendations and that the FAA in Washington, D.C. has to enact the rules.

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