The National Transportation Safety Board has highlighted a lack of situational awareness during a night takeoff from a rooftop helipad as a causal factor in the May 13 crash of a medevac helicopter in Dallas.
The Bell 407, flown by Air Evac Lifeteam, had a crew of three on board when the accident occurred. There were no injuries, but the tail rotor of the helicopter sustained substantial damage.
Per the NTSB final report, the pilot of the helicopter, 60, held a commercial pilot certificate and was rated for both airplanes and helicopters. The pilot’s total time was listed as 6,451 hours of which 5,219 were in a rotorcraft and 855 in the accident make and model.
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The pilot reported they had dropped off a patient and were preparing to take off again. Night VMC prevailed with visibility of 10 miles and winds from the south at 3 knots.
According to the pilot, after checklists were completed and while on deck, they made a radio transmission request for departure to Dallas Love Tower to request a departure clearance as the hospital heliport is in Class B airspace. Receiving no reply, the pilot lifted off into a hover to gain more altitude and therefore better radio reception. The pilot rotated the aircraft 90 degrees into the wind, then increased the altitude to approximately 20 feet.
The pilot simultaneously heard a loud crack and felt a sudden jolt in the pedals that quickly developed into a right yaw. They applied left pedal and began a descent to the pad. After landing the aircraft was listing to the left with the engine running and rotors spinning. After a quick evaluation of the situation the pilot initiated a normal shutdown.
The post-event inspection revealed substantial damage to the tail rotor blades and left landing skid along with a security camera that had been mounted on the rooftop.
Video footage captured by a rooftop surveillance camera depicted the helicopter drifting backward as it lifted off and began a right turn. The climb, turn, and backward drift continued until the tail rotor impacted a helipad surveillance camera that ended the video footage.
The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operations. They also noted the accident might have been prevented by maintaining a hover of no more than 5 feet and visual reference with the helipad environment before departure to prevent unintended lateral and backward drift.
The complete final report can be found here. More crash photos are below.