Description

On 24 February 2008, a Sikorsky S-61N being operated by British International Helicopters on a passenger flight from Værøy to Bødo attempted a visual approach at destination in day Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) and came close to unseen terrain before accepting an offer of assistance from ATC to achieve an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to runway 07 without further event. None of the 18 occupants were injured.

Investigation

The Incident was classified as a Serious Incident by AIBN and an Investigation was carried out. It was established that the initial account of the occurrence by the flight crew had not been accurate. However, the Investigation had access to both a radar recording of the aircraft track and an RTF recording and subsequent interviewing of both the two pilots and the air traffic controller involved provided additional information. The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) fitted had been serviceable but had been overwritten and no Flight Data Recorder (FDR) was installed. The (very experienced) aircraft commander was found to have been PM.

It was noted that the aircraft had been wet leased to Norwegian AOC holder Lufttransport (LTR) because their own helicopter was on maintenance. However, the lease period approved by the Norwegian CAA was found to have expired a week before the event.