A HELICOPTER pilot who collided with another chopper while fighting a bushfire between Orange and Bathurst may have been suffering from ‘missionitis’, a report by the transport safety watchdog has found.
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The helicopters clipped each other while water bombing a fierce blaze near the Macquarie Woods on December 8 last year.
An investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), released this week, has outlined how lucky both pilots were to escape with their lives.
“Only the slimmest of margins prevented the collision becoming a catastrophe involving the destruction of both helicopters and the likely loss of life of the pilots,” the ATSB report states.
At the time of the collision on December 8, the bushfire was advancing quickly and had come within 150 to 200 metres of a house and other buildings.
One pilot had just dropped his water from a height of about 100 feet when he felt a slight jolt.
Shortly after, he received a radio call from the other pilot working on the fire who said “that was close, way too close”.
It was only when the helicopters landed that damage to one of their vertical fins was discovered. No radio communication between the pilots after they picked up water from nearby dams meant the air operation relied on the airmanship and experience of the pilots to steer clear of each other, the report said.
The remaining line of defence, the ability for the pilots to visually track each others’ whereabouts, also failed.
“Chance then determined the severity of the outcome,” investigators said.
The pilot of the chopper that was struck had 18,500 hours flying experience, including more than 4000 hours in firefighting operations.
The pilot of the other chopper had 6500 hours’ experience, including about 1500 hours in aerial firefighting.
‘Missionitis’ is an aviation industry term used to describe situations where pilots place more emphasis on mission accomplishment and less on safety.
