AO-1995-021

At approximately 2025 hours on Saturday, 9 December 1995, during a deer hunting sortie, the shooter, suspended on a strop beneath R22 helicopter ZK-HUH, fell onto a hard sand beach when the cargo hook opened unexpectedly. The shooter sustained severe internal injuries and died that evening. No definitive cause was established for the opening of the cargo hook. Civil Aviation Authority approval had not been sought for the carriage of a person on the strop, and special conditions to enhance the safety of a person so carried were not in place.