Leicester ’copter tragedy caused by control fault
THE Leicester City helicopter which crashed killing the club’s billionaire owner and four others fell out of the sky after the controls failed, investigators have revealed.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch report said a pin became disconnected in the machinery that controls the tail rotor.
This rendered pilot Eric Swaffer’s pedals – which are meant to guide the tail rotor – useless, forcing the aircraft to veer uncontrollably to the right.
The rotor keeps the aircraft steady and stops it spinning in the opposite direction to the main blades. The Agusta Westland AW169 fell from 430ft outside Leicester’s King Power stadium with its landing gear up, tipping on to its side and erupting in flames.
Leicester’s Thai owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, 61, two of his staff Nusara Suknamai, 33, and Kaveporn Punpare, and pilots Mr Swaffer, 53, and Izabela Roza Lechowicz, 46, died in the tragedy on October 27.
Investigators said the ‘failure sequence’ resulted from the ‘tail rotor actuator control shaft becoming disconnected’. The report added: ‘The initiating cause and exact sequence of the failure that resulted in the loss of tail rotor control is being investigated as a priority.’
Footage of the shocking incident appears to show that sections of the tail rotor may have fallen off mid-air.
Italian firm Leonardo made the Leicester owner’s AW169 AgustaWestland helicopter in 2016.
The crash was the first accident involving that type of aircraft, the manufacturer said.
A preliminary report by accident investigators released last month identified a problem with the aircraft’s tail rotor as the likely cause of the tragedy.
Following the crash, the European Aviation Safety Agency ordered that safety checks should be carried out on the tail rotors of AW169 helicopters and the similar AW189 model.
AW169s are used by several air ambulance services, including the Children’s Air Ambulance, and the Kent, Surrey and Sussex service. The AW189 is used by UK Coastguard search and rescue teams.