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| The stricken helicopter awaits recovery |
IT is still unclear why a private helicopter, with three men on board, emergency-landed on Cleethorpes outer beach last autumn.
The accident occurred at about 1.30pm on October 15.
The copter's warning light illuminated when the 56-year-old pilot "pulled on the collective lever at a height of approximately 800 ft".
The machine "immediately entered autorotation leading to a run-on landing at approximately 15 knots".
A report on the incident is contained in the latest Air Accident Investigation Bulletin, published earlier this week.
It states: "The helicopter came to rest upright on its skids, but the main rotor blades were found to have struck the tail boom causing substantial damage."
Although the three occupants had their bones jarred by the abruptness of the landing, there were no injuries.
The report offers no clue why the rotor blades might have struck the tail boom, causing damage to both.
The site is an important feeding and roosting habitat for wading birds, notably oystercatchers, and there was an initial theory that a bird strike might have been a contributory fact, but there is no evidence - such as bird corpses - to support this.
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| The already damaged tail boom is thought to have snapped on the aircraft's sudden impact with the beach |
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| A Humber Coastgurd team was quickly in attendance |
Shorebirds such as these oystercatchers have not been implicated in the incident
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| The investigation bulletin |
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