 LN‑OFU wreck at crash site at Skoddevarre | |
| Occurrence | |
|---|---|
| Date | 31 August 2019 |
| Summary | The helicopter entered servo transparency, locking up the controls. The pilot was unable to regain control before crashing into the ground |
| Site | Skoddevarre, Alta, Norway 69°55′06″N 23°09′18″E / 69.91833°N 23.15500°E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Airbus AS350 |
| Operator | Helitrans |
| Registration | LN‑OFU |
| Occupants | 6 |
| Passengers | 5 |
| Crew | 1 |
| Fatalities | 6 |
| Survivors | 0 |
On 31 August 2019, an Airbus AS350 helicopter operated by a contracted Helitrans pilot from Sweden crashed in the mountains of Skoddevarre in Alta Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The crash happened during a sightseeing tour, killing all six people on board. The tour was offered by a local music festival, Høstsprell, who had been providing the service for seven years. The helicopter, registered as LN‑OFU, had recently been delivered and had undergone security checks hours before takeoff.
An investigation by the Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority (NSIA) found no technical faults with the machinery, and concluded that LN‑OFU had entered servo transparency; the stresses on the rotors had exceeded the hydraulic servomotor's capacity, causing the controls to lock up. This was caused by the helicopter's heavy load and rapid fluctuations in velocity and height. The pilot tried to regain control, but was ultimately unable to do so and crashed into the terrain. As the aircraft did not have a crash-resistant fuel system (CRFS), the wreck promptly caught fire, destroying most of it and inflicting lethal burns to the people on board; autopsies of the victims' bodies suggested that they died from their burns. The NSIA consequently called for the ban of commercial flights on rotorcraft without CRFSs in the European Union.
Helitrans received criticism for allowing an inexperienced pilot to fly with passengers, and for not having CRFSs installed on their helicopters. After the incident, they started replacing their fleet of aircraft with new ones installed with CRFSs. Both Høstsprell and Helitrans stopped providing sightseeing tours.