Description

On 27 July 2000, a Boeing 737-400 being operated by British Airways on a scheduled passenger flight from Aberdeen to London Gatwick made a high speed rejected takeoff in normal daylight ground visibility upon sighting an AS332 being operated by CHC Scotia on an Air Test hovering over the upwind end of the take off runway. The 737 came to a stop approximately 100 metres before reaching the position of the helicopter.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the UK AAIB.

It was established that the air test detail being accomplished by the AS332 helicopter, which had a ground engineer in board as well as the two pilots, involved an initial period in the hover before departure into the local circuit for the remaining items of the test. With the First Officer as PF, it had been cleared by GND to carry out the hover requirement after hover taxiing to the E2 holding point situated at the upwind end of the active runway 16. Whilst en-route to the holding point, GND had passed the departure clearance and instructed the helicopter to change to TWR but thus was neither acknowledged nor actioned. After a couple of minutes in position, and with the hover test complete, the helicopter checked in with TWR just after the 737 had been given take off clearance. As the helicopter was being told to return to their previous position, the 737, with the First Officer also acting as PF, rejected take off after the conflict was seen ahead and the aircraft commander called ‘stop’ at a speed of 100 KIAS.