2018 Leicester helicopter crash
Amadeus Aviation Leonardo AW169 · Loss of yaw control due to tail rotor control linkage failure
From King Power Stadium, Leicester, England to London Luton Airport (LTN)
Event
- NTSB case
- ENG19WA004
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 5
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 4 · all on the ground
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Leonardo AW169
- Aircraft type
- Leonardo AW169
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- G-VSKP
- Operator
- Amadeus Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From King Power Stadium, Leicester, EnglandTo London Luton Airport (LTN)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Unknown
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Takeoff
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft propeller/rotor
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 27 October 2018, a Leonardo AW169 helicopter crashed shortly after take-off from Leicester City's King Power Stadium in Leicester, England, while en route to Luton Airport. All people on board—the pilot and four passengers, including club chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha—were killed in the crash.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch attributed the crash to a loss of yaw control owing to a failure of the tail rotor control linkage.
History of the flight
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha frequently travelled to and from the stadium in the helicopter for Leicester City's matches, with the Leicester Mercury describing it as "a familiar sight for Foxes fans." On 27 October, the helicopter departed Fairoaks Airport in Surrey with the pilot and his girlfriend on board. It stopped at London Heliport to collect three additional passengers—Srivaddhanaprabha and two members of his staff—before departing at 14:43 BST (13:43 UTC). It arrived at the Leicester City Football Club Training Ground on Belvoir Drive, 1.5 mi south of the King Power Stadium at 15:58 BST (14:58 UTC). All on board disembarked and travelled by car to the stadium for Leicester's game against West Ham United. The pilot and his girlfriend returned after the football match concluded and then, as was usual, flew the helicopter to the stadium to collect Srivaddhanaprabha and his two staff members. The helicopter was seen preparing to lift off from the pitch live on BT Sport, during a post-match broadcast.
The aircraft was due to fly to Luton Airport.
Accident
With Vichai, the pilot and three other people on board, the helicopter took off from within the stadium at approximately 20:37 BST (19:37 UTC). As the pilot turned the helicopter towards its en-route heading, the tail rotor control linkage broke, sending the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. One witness described the aircraft falling "like a stone to the floor". It struck the ground in stadium Car Park E, about 200 m from the stadium, and burst into flames. Two police officers and two club staff leaving the stadium attempted to rescue those in the helicopter but had to retreat due to the heat and flames. They sustained heat injuries. Investigators ruled out a suggestion of a collision with a police drone as a possible cause.
The following day, Leicestershire Police confirmed that everybody on board had been killed in the crash and subsequent fire, and named the five fatalities. They were three Thais: club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and two members of his staff—Kaveporn Punpare and Nusara Suknamai, British pilot Eric Swaffer, and his Polish girlfriend, Izabela Róża Lechowicz. Lechowicz was also a helicopter pilot but was not flying that day. A small memorial has been erected at East Sheen Cemetery for these two pilots. It was determined that four of the five occupants survived the crash, but with disabling injuries that prevented their escape from the helicopter. They died in the consequent fire.
Two police officers, Michael Hooper and Stephen Quartermain, suffered burns and smoke inhalation attempting to rescue the occupants, and subsequently were nominated for a national police bravery award as well as receiving Queen's Gallantry Medals.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) opened an investigation into the accident. Italy's Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo, representing the state of the manufacturer of the helicopter, and Canada's Transportation Safety Board, representing the state of the manufacturer of the helicopter's engines, provided assistance. Accredited representatives from Poland's State Commission on Aircraft Accidents Investigation and Thailand's Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee also provided assistance. America's National Transportation Safety Board, representing the state of the manufacturer of the tail rotor actuator, and the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile, representing the state of the manufacturer of the tail rotor bearing, also assisted. The aircraft's Digital Flight Data Recorder was recovered on 28 October, having been severely damaged in the fire. It was transported to the AAIB's base at Farnborough, Hampshire, for downloading of its data. The wreckage of the helicopter was transported to Farnborough on 2 November.
A coroner's inquest was convened to investigate the official cause of death for the passengers and crew of the helicopter. The investigation reported in the court revealed that there was minimal opportunity for any individuals who survived the initial crash to escape, or for anyone to help those trapped. The inquest concluded in January 2025 with a verdict of accidental death for all five victims.
On 7 November, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an Airworthiness Directive, demanding checks of the tails of all AgustaWestland AW169 and AgustaWestland AW189 helicopters, as a precautionary measure. On 14 November, the AAIB released a Special Bulletin, outlining the progress of the investigation. A loss of yaw control was revealed as the cause of the aircraft crashing, with the reasons for the loss of yaw control not yet determined. On 30 November, the EASA issued an Emergency Alert Service Bulletin requiring periodic inspection of part of the tail rotor system. This was made mandatory by an Airworthiness Directive issued the same day.
On 6 December 2018, the AAIB published a second Special Bulletin. Investigators revealed that loss of control of the helicopter resulted from the tail rotor actuator control shaft (which controls the pitch of the tail rotor blades) becoming disconnected from the actuator lever mechanism that transmits the pilots' pedal inputs to control the helicopter's yaw. They have also revealed evidence of the normally stationary control shaft being spun by the tail rotor which caused the castellated nut holding the actuator lever in place to friction weld to its carrier, shear off its split pin and rotate off the threaded shaft. The locking nut and pin carrier were found loose in the tail rotor fairing and were bonded together. A duplex bearing that was designed to allow the control shaft to remain stationary (with the rest of the tail rotor assembly rotating around it) was found to only allow a few degrees of rotation, with the races blocked up by a mix of burnt grease and metallic particles. The AAIB published their two volume final report on 6 September 2023. Eight safety recommendations were made.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2018 Leicester helicopter crash” (revision 1374218983, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
The United Kingdom's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has notified the NTSB of an accident involving an Agusta AW169, which occurred on October 27, 2018. The NTSB has appointed a U.S. Accredited Representative to assist the AAIB investigation under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13 as the State of Manufacturer and Design of airplane components.
All investigative information will be released by the AAIB.
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2018 Leicester helicopter crash
- Revision
- 1374218983 · 2026-09-10 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q57896166
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record ENG19WA004
- Event ID
- 20181108X41442
- Case number
- ENG19WA004
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2018 Leicester helicopter crash" (page 58896584, revision 1374218983); merged with NTSB case ENG19WA004 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record ENG19WA004
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): The helicopter was used routinely as the club chairman's personal transport: a private or corporate flight for its owner. The article: "Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha frequently travelled to and from the stadium in the helicopter for Leicester City's matches"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2018 Leicester helicopter crash" and NTSB case ENG19WA004, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.