On Wednesday 17 August 2005, at 1145, the pilot of ZK-HGI, a Eurocopter AS350 BA helicopter, flew a party of 4 adults and 3 children to a snowfield above Franz Josef Glacier, in South Westland. When approaching to land, the helicopter started to drift right, the skids caught in the soft snow and the helicopter rolled onto its right side. The pilot and passengers were able to vacate the helicopter and, other than some bruising, were not injured.
The accident was caused by the pilot unknowingly entering white-out conditions as he approached to land on the snow. Recent snow had obscured markers put in the snow to assist visual reference. Therefore, he did not detect the lateral movement of the helicopter as it was about to land. The pilot’s selection of approach heading further compounded the loss of visual references.
The safety issues identified were the pilot’s understanding of white-out conditions and the importance of approach heading selection. The operator and pilot addressed both these issues early in the investigation, so no safety recommendation was required.
