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The helicopter was equipped with an Appareo flight data monitoring ( FDM) system, which indicated that the yaw was about 11°.Īn NTSB performance study using data retrieved from the FDM corroborated the pilot’s statement and showed that the helicopter rapidly turned left from a heading of 153° to 142° in 1.25 seconds. When the flight nurse stepped on the left pedal, the pitch of the tail rotor blades would have increased, increasing tail rotor thrust, and yawing the aircraft counter-clockwise. The damage to the blades and empennage was consistent with their making contact, and the flight data suggest this occurred during the first leg of the shift flight as the crew did not experience any other events that would have caused the degree of damage observed.ĭamaged Tail Rotor Blades from Intermountain Healthcare Leonardo AW109S Grand N271HC (Credit: via NTSB) The helicopter was immediately taken out of service and ferried to the company’s maintenance facility for repair. …conducted a walkaround inspection in daylight conditions and discovered damage to the tailboom as he approached the helicopter. The rest of the flight was uneventful, and the pilot did not report any anomalies with the tail rotor blades or tailboom during the subsequent flights that took place during his shift. The pilot did not observe any unusual signatures on the exterior of the helicopter during a walkaround inspection after they landed…however, he did not inspect the tail rotor blades or tailboom. The pilot was 72 years old and had 11173 hours of flying experience, 985 on type. The pilot re-established straight and level flight and landed the helicopter uneventfully. No abnormal noise or vibration was detected. The flight nurse said it “felt like they got hit with strong turbulence over a mountain”. The pilot described this yaw as “severe and violent”. PTT & A109S Yaw Pedals (Credit: via NTSB)

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