SE-HEO

Information

SE-HEO was constructed back in 1952, five years after the arrival of the first helicopter to Sweden. It had three owners (in USA, Germany and Norway) before it finally came to Sweden in early 1974. A company named Nordlyft AB operated the helicopter for a year, but then sold it to Lapplandsflyg in Umeå. Lapplandsflyg owned and operated the helicopter for many years. In 2002 ATR Maskin i Nord AB purchased the helicopter. The aircraft was based in an own hangar at an industrial area near Kallax Airport in Luleå.

Accident
SE-HEO was destroyed in a post-impact fire following an accident at a field near the Byeskeälven river northwest of Fällfors, Skellefteå, on 23 August 2013. The helicopter had been flying to an outdoor exhibition centre in order to visit the show and to take some photos. The pilot and his passenger had removed one of the helicopter’s doors and left it at a nearby field, and following completion of the photo shoot the aircraft returned to the field in order to pick the door up again. Upon landing the helicopter ended up in an uncontrolled state and hit the ground at an impact estimated to be equivalent to 550 ft per minute or more. The aircraft was severely damaged by the accident and an extensive post-impact fire. The two occupants were seriously injured, but they both survived.

The Swedish Accident Investigation Board found that the main rotor blade fixings had traces of the blades being bent upward and forward, which meant that the rotor blades had probably coned. The investigation of the wreckage revealed no other errors or malfunctions relating to engine or flight controls. The Board concluded that the cause of the accident was that the pilot, for unknown reasons, lost control of the helicopter at the final stage of the landing.