The breakdown of one of the total of three medium multi-purpose helicopters of the "bell-412" type at the disposal of the Air Force of Montenegro (VVCG) is the result of the implementation of an extraordinary helicopter inspection procedure, which has meanwhile been banned by the manufacturer of that aircraft. In addition, the check was carried out by a helicopter crew not trained for such a procedure.
This is claimed by the "Vijesti" source, who is well acquainted with the circumstances under which the so-called extraordinary event took place, when, in an incident on January 17, at the "Knjaz Danilo" military airport in Golubovci, the VCG helicopter, registration number XHB 307, suffered a serious accident , that is, major mechanical damage to the drive and transmission assembly.
That accident resulted in major material damage to the helicopter, which is still being assessed, and according to insiders, it ranges from half to maybe over a million euros.
Because of that incident, the helicopter will be out of service for a longer period of time while the damaged engines and rotor transmission assemblies are repaired at service centers in Europe, and perhaps even at the manufacturer in Canada.
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It is a second-hand Bell 412 EP helicopter that, before it was purchased by the Ministry of Defense of Montenegro in 2018, was used for a long time by the New York Police.
That aircraft came off the production line of the Bell Helicopters factory in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2002.
According to the claims of a well-informed interlocutor of "Vijesti", problems were observed on that helicopter last year - variations in the number of revolutions of the turbine, that is, the value of the torque it delivers to the rotor of the helicopter at an unchanged position of the "throttle" levers.
Therefore, it was proposed to ground that helicopter until accurate diagnosis and repair of the fault, but instead of entrusting it to a specialized team of Bell service technicians, the management of VVCG decided to measure the parameters of the engine under its own direction, according to a procedure that, in the meantime, was explicitly prohibited by the manufacturer .
According to the interlocutor of Vijesti, who wished to remain anonymous, the resulting accident occurred due to the lack of training of the crew, i.e. non-compliance with the recommendations and standards prescribed by the manufacturer.
"During the extraordinary inspection of the helicopter, i.e. the measurement of certain engine parameters on that aircraft, a check procedure was started that is not foreseen in the regular exploitation and maintenance of this type of aircraft. This type of check is not carried out for more than two years, according to instructions from the Bell company, i.e. it is prohibited. On this occasion, the mentioned procedure was carried out even beyond the earlier standards, therefore, a far more advanced level of checking was carried out than the previously mentioned one, and the same is only applied in the overhaul institute with persons trained for it. The helicopter crew, which performed this check, was not even at the basic level of training to carry out this check procedure", pointed out the interlocutor of Vijesti.
According to him, the crew consisted of the least trained among all the pilots and the least trained among all the co-pilots available to the VVCG for flying on that type of helicopter. It is about the same crew that flew a "bella 412" that on October 11 last year in Kolašin flew extremely low over a construction site in that city and significantly disturbed and threatened the safety of about 50 workers employed there.
300
thousand euros, minimal damage was caused to the helicopter, and estimates are that it is possible to exceed one million euros, claims the interlocutor of Vijesti. He said, however, that the damage to the helicopter is still being assessed
As part of the air rescue training that was being carried out, this helicopter and its crew also damaged a private vehicle in the Bjelasica area.
The Ministry of Defense said at the time that they would compensate the owner of the damaged vehicle for the damage suffered and said that "situations like this do happen, because sometimes it is not possible to predict all the potential consequences on the ground that may happen from a helicopter".
A well-informed source of "Vijesti" explained that during the helicopter crash, those two pilots and the aircraft mechanic who were performing the check on the XHN 307, on that occasion provoked a significant excess of the allowed maximum number of revolutions of the helicopter's engine and rotor.
"The exceedance went to 112 percent (allowed 100 percent), lasting between 7 - 12 seconds. This excess is significant in the zone of illegality, where damage to assemblies is possible. The technical instructions provide for several actions after such an incident in order to check the condition of the engine components, transmission, main rotor head, tail rotor and others in order to bring the helicopter into proper condition. It is an extremely long and complex process that, in addition to time, requires other activities and significant financial resources that cannot be accurately predicted at the moment," said the interviewee of the newspaper.
He specified that it is now necessary to remove the engines from the crashed helicopter and send them to an authorized service center where they will be disassembled "in order to inspect virtually all components for defects". Disassembly of the complete transmission system, disassembly of the main rotor head and disassembly of the tail rotor system is also necessary.
"All components are disassembled in order to inspect the condition and inspect the damage. Only after that, it is possible to give a more accurate assessment of the damage to the components, which must all be replaced as well as the method of repair. Then the financial aspect of bringing the helicopter to its previous, correct condition will be clearer," he points out.
He added that at the moment it can be safely claimed that "the resulting damage will certainly not be less than 300.000 euros, and estimates are that it may exceed a million euros."
"The assessment is based on the fact that the engines must be sent to an authorized service center - probably at the engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in Canada, and for the rest of the assemblies there is a possible possibility that the work will be done in VVCG", the "Vijesti" interlocutor points out.
During the emergency inspection of the helicopter, i.e. the measurement of certain engine parameters on that aircraft, a check procedure was started that is not foreseen in the regular exploitation and maintenance of this type of aircraft. This type of check is not carried out for more than two years, according to the instructions from the Bell company, that is, it is prohibited", asserts the interlocutor of Vijesti.
Establishing or concealing facts
The "Vijesti" source claims that the incident, despite the enormous damage, was not officially classified as "extraordinary" in the VVCG, but the VVCG commander, Lt. Col. Bojan Popadić, formed a commission to investigate the circumstances and reasons for the accident.
"The composition of the commission is, to say the least, problematic from several aspects, especially because of the level from which it was formed because the commander of the VVCG is also in the direct line of responsibility for what happened. What is clear even before the commission's findings is that the crew had no right to carry out this operation; the crew consisted of the most inexperienced pilots performing tasks on this type of helicopter; the pilots were not trained for this task; no previous analysis and assessment was done, on the basis of which this operation would eventually be changed and to a much smaller level than the one the crew was performing; the crew did not receive a written order, nor any detailed instructions from superiors, on the basis of which this verification procedure would be carried out", says a well-informed "Vijesti" interlocutor.
He said that in addition to the obvious failure of the complete flight safety and aircraft maintenance system at VVCG, there are indications that there were others that went unnoticed.
He claims that "currently, work is being done to relativize the seriousness of the consequences of that extraordinary event, in order to cover up failures in the system as well as the value of the damage caused".
"The tendency is to blame the crew members as the only ones responsible, which aims to protect their superiors in the chain of command, as well as to hide obvious failures in the command system, the maintenance system, and flight safety. Also, the very seriousness of the gross omissions of individuals would be relativized, and the real value of the resulting damage would only be shown later using the aspect of the passage of time", he concluded.
"Vijesti" is waiting for answers from the Ministry of Defense to questions regarding the incident.
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