1993 Llyn Padarn helicopter crash

Helicopter crash in Wales

53°07′31″N 4°07′46″W / 53.12528°N 4.12944°W / 53.12528; -4.12944

1993 Llyn Padarn helicopter crash
Accident
A RAF Westland Wessex similar to the one involved.
Date	12 August 1993
Summary	Tail rotor failure
Site	Llyn Padarn
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Westland Wessex
Operator	RAF
Registration	XR524
Passengers	4
Crew	3
Fatalities	3
Survivors	4

The 1993 Llyn Padarn helicopter crash occurred on 12 August 1993, when an RAF Westland Wessex helicopter, serial number XR524, with 3 aircrew and 4 Air Training Corps cadet passengers on board suffered a catastrophic tail rotor failure and plunged into Llyn Padarn, a lake in North Wales. Three passengers were killed.

Accident

The aircraft departed RAF Valley on 12 August 1993, for a routine search and rescue training mission over North Wales. Aboard were three crewmembers and four Air Training Corps Cadets from Northern England. As they were flying over the lake, the pilot performed a planned autopilot failure simulation. However, the aircraft encountered a genuine emergency when it lost the drive to its tail rotor. Without it to counteract the torque produced by the main rotor, the helicopter became uncontrollable and started spinning before impacting the water. The crash was caught on amateur video.

The three crew and one cadet were able to escape the wreckage. She recounted:

...there was all this icy black water gushing in through the door. I didn't even have time to take a breath of air. I couldn't see anything and couldn't breathe. I remember feeling around for the door and not being able to find it. But somehow I got out and inflated my lifejacket. There was no chance to see what happened to any of the others.

Several persons, including a canoeing monitor rushed to the crash site and rescued the survivors. The three remaining occupants of the helicopter were presumably trapped in the wreckage and drowned.

Investigation

As the accident aircraft belonged to the RAF, the responsibility for investigating the crash lay not with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch but with the military. The Ministry of Defence released a report in November 1995. The RAF investigators determined the loss of power on the tail rotor to have been caused by two toothed flanges in the tail boom failing to engage properly. The tail of the Westland Wessex can be folded for storage and transport. The shaft that drives the tail rotor is broken and then remade by means of a disconnect coupling using two flanges. When the tail was last unfolded, the two flanges failed to mesh completely. It is hypothesized that the disconnection of the autopilot just prior the accident increased the stress on the tail section, triggering the failure. After the two halves of the transmission train became decoupled, the tail rotor was not powered and ceased functioning. The crew then had no means to control the aircraft.

Beginning January 1996, a civilian inquest was also held in Llandudno.

Aftermath

For some time after the accident, all Westland Wessex in the United Kingdom were grounded for all but emergency use. The grounding was eventually lifted and Westland Wessex re-entered service. As of 2000, at least one of the four recommendations made by the military board of inquiry as a result of the crash (simulator training for a tail rotor failure) had been implemented.
A plaque has been placed near the crash site. A memorial service was held there in 2003, for the tenth anniversary of the tragedy.

Notes

On helicopters, the tail rotor is powered by the main engine through a shaft that goes the length of the tail boom.

References

^ Ministry of Defence. "Military Aircraft Accident Summary" (PDF).
^ "Service for air crash victims". BBC. 10 August 2003. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
^ "Only survivor tells of copter crash horror". The Bolton News. 25 January 1996.
^ Bourton, Tom (11 August 2003). "Watching tragedy unfold". BBC. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
"Llanberis Helicopter Crash". YouTube. 4 March 2007. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
Doylerush, Edward (1999). No Landing Place (Volume 2).
Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Llanberis Helicopter Crash". YouTube. 4 March 2007.
"Wessex Grounding in Wake of Crash". Flight International. 25–31 August 1993. p. 18.
"Simulation and rescue". Flight International. 21–27 November 2000. p. 41.

Sikorsky S-55/S-58 family & S-62

Military designations

CH-126

Model numbers

License
production

Westland
(UK)

WS-55

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Orlando

OHA-S-55

Piasecki

PA-97 Helistat

VAT

Elite

Primary names

Accidents and incidents

Topics

See also: Sikorsky S-61 family • Sikorsky S-70 family

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1993 (1993)
Jan 6 Lufthansa Cityline Flight 5634Feb 8 Tehran mid-air collisionFeb 11 Lufthansa Flight 592Mar 5 Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301Mar 31 Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 46EApr 1 Alan Kulwicki Swearingen crashApr 6 China Eastern Airlines Flight 583Apr 14 American Airlines Flight 102Apr 18 Japan Air System Flight 451Apr 24 Indian Airlines Flight 427Apr 26 Indian Airlines Flight 491Apr 27 Zambia national football team plane crashMay 19 SAM Colombia Flight 501Jul 1 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 724Jul 23 China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119Jul 26 Asiana Airlines Flight 733Jul 31 Everest Air Dornier 228 crashAug 12 Llyn Padarn helicopter crashAug 18 American International Airways Flight 808Aug 26 Sakha Avia Flight 301Aug 28 Khorog Tajikistan Airlines Yakovlev Yak-40 crashSep 14 Lufthansa Flight 2904Sep 21 Sukhumi airliners attacksOct 26 China Eastern Airlines Flight 5398Oct 27 Widerøe Flight 744Nov 4 China Airlines Flight 605Nov 13 China Northern Airlines Flight 6901Nov 20 Avioimpex Flight 110Nov 26 Auckland mid-air collisionDec 1 Northwest Airlink Flight 5719Dec 26 Kuban Airlines Flight 5719
1992 ◄ ► 1994

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1993 (1993)

Jan 6 Lufthansa Cityline Flight 5634Feb 8 Tehran mid-air collisionFeb 11 Lufthansa Flight 592Mar 5 Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301Mar 31 Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 46EApr 1 Alan Kulwicki Swearingen crashApr 6 China Eastern Airlines Flight 583Apr 14 American Airlines Flight 102Apr 18 Japan Air System Flight 451Apr 24 Indian Airlines Flight 427Apr 26 Indian Airlines Flight 491Apr 27 Zambia national football team plane crashMay 19 SAM Colombia Flight 501Jul 1 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 724Jul 23 China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119Jul 26 Asiana Airlines Flight 733Jul 31 Everest Air Dornier 228 crashAug 12 Llyn Padarn helicopter crashAug 18 American International Airways Flight 808Aug 26 Sakha Avia Flight 301Aug 28 Khorog Tajikistan Airlines Yakovlev Yak-40 crashSep 14 Lufthansa Flight 2904Sep 21 Sukhumi airliners attacksOct 26 China Eastern Airlines Flight 5398Oct 27 Widerøe Flight 744Nov 4 China Airlines Flight 605Nov 13 China Northern Airlines Flight 6901Nov 20 Avioimpex Flight 110Nov 26 Auckland mid-air collisionDec 1 Northwest Airlink Flight 5719Dec 26 Kuban Airlines Flight 5719

1992 ◄ ► 1994

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom in the 1990s
1990	British Army Gazelle shootdown (February 1990) Scotland RAF Shackleton crash (April 1990) British Airways Flight 5390 (June 1990)
1991	1991 British Army Lynx shootdown (February 1991)
1993	Llyn Padarn helicopter crash (August 1993)
1994	1994 British Army Lynx shootdown (March 1994) Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash (June 1994) RAF Puma shootdown (July 1994) Air Algérie Flight 702P (December 1994)
1995	Bristow Helicopters Flight 56C (January 1995) Royal Air Force Nimrod R1 ditching (16 May 1995) Knight Air Flight 816 (24 May 1995)
1997	Virgin Atlantic Flight 024 (November 1997)
1999	Edinburgh Air Charter Flight 3W (September 1999) Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509 (December 1999)
1980–1989 ◄ 1990–1999 ► 2000–

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