The Aviation Safety Council (ASC) is hoping to send personnel to observe pilot training in the US as part of efforts to ensure that a Black Hawk helicopter crash earlier this year, attributed to pilot error, does not happen again, ASC Executive Director Kuan Wen-lin (官文霖) said yesterday.
“Although the ASC has completed an analysis of the helicopter’s black box, it would also like to conduct detailed observations of pilot training in the US, pending approval from the US military,” Kuan said.
The ASC has already filed a report on the incident and expects to wrap up the investigation in April or May next year, he added.
The UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter is built by Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp, but the company informed the ASC that approval from the US military is required for ASC to conduct observations of pilot training, in accordance with the US’ International Traffic in Arms Regulations, he said.
The ASC has been in touch with the American Institute in Taiwan, which has offered to help, Kuan said, adding that the ASC hopes to send personnel to observe training by the end of this year.
On Feb. 5, a Black Hawk helicopter belonging to the National Airborne Service Corps crashed near Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), while transporting a patient to Taitung County.
The wreckage was retrieved on April 12 near Orchid Island off Taitung, with the six people on board confirmed dead.
The ASC on Sunday said the crash was caused by pilots ignoring an alarm when the helicopter encountered air turbulence shortly after take off.
Kuan quoted an ASC report as saying that data retrieved from the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder indicated that the aircraft did not encounter mechanical problems before crashing.
Encountering air turbulence at low altitude, the pilot and copilot failed to follow standard procedures, Kuan said, adding that they ignored warnings from the helicopter’s aviation guidance system, “unknowingly taking the helicopter into a critical situation.”
The guidance system’s alarm sounded between 11:48:56pm and 11:49:44pm, when the aircraft was less than 91m above sea level, Kuan said, adding that the alarm warned the pilots of the helicopter’s dangerous flight altitude and speed.
The flight recorder indicated that the pilot realized that the altitude was incorrect five seconds before the crash and asked the copilot to check it, the report added.
Their response deviated from standard aviation procedures, he added.
Black Hawks are advanced helicopters with sophisticated instruments designed to ensure safe flights, he said, adding that it is unclear why the pilots chose not to use their instruments when flying the helicopter.
That is a question any future probe would need to answer, Kuan added.
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