Final report after alcohol accident in Norway
Dec 20, 2016
The Norwegian Accident Investigation Board (AIBN) has published its final report following an accident that occurred in Reisadalen, Troms County, in the north of Norway on 15 August 2015.
The helicopter, a commercially operated Swedish Eurocopter EC 120B Colibri registered SE-JJM, was en-route from Alta (Norway) to Kiruna (Sweden) on a ferry flight. After approximately 40 minutes of flight, including a brief half-minute landing, the experienced pilot suddenly changed course and flew westbound for some time before he resumed on track for Kiruna. Shortly thereafter the he made a few turns at low level, which was later explained by the pilot as him wanting to look at some arctic foxes on the ground.
The aircraft ended up downwind in a low airspeed and began to settle. Despite a high power setting it hit the ground hard. The helicopter was damaged and the pilot, who was the only person on board, suffered back injuries in the accident.
The Accident Investigation Board says that the GPS trace from the specific flight shows irregularities in altitude, course and airspeed throughout the whole flight. The pilot says that he was interested in the wildlife and wanted to fly closer to the animals.
The pilot was airlifted to Tromsø through a joint effort by a rescue helicopter and an EMS helicopter. His blood alcohol concentration was routinely checked, and it showed 2,29 per mille, four hours after the accident. The pilot states that this was due to the fact that he drank a large amount of liquor post impact in order to ease his back pain, and that he later hid the bottle some 25-50 meters from the wrecked helicopter.
The AIBN says that no evidences imply that the accident has been caused by technical malfunctions. It says that the pilot most likely manoeuvred himself into conditions that could cause the helicopter to settle with power, and that he reacted too late to the symptoms once they developed. The accident flight had several deviating risk factors and, combined with the pilot’s history of alcohol problems, the AIBN states that he showed a reduction in judgement and reactivity compatible to flying under the influence of alcohol.
The report states that the pilot had been fired from another helicopter company due to alcohol problems a few years prior to the accident, and the Swedish Transport Agency had informed the Norwegian CAA regarding his problems. The pilot had lost his driver’s license due to drunk driving, and the Swedish Police had questioned the Norwegian CAA why he was allowed fly.
The Norwegian Accident Investigation Board says that both the Norwegian CAA and the current employer have held passive attitudes to the pilot’s alcohol problems, and that this has allowed him to keep flying without any aeromedical resolutions.