Helicopter crash in Slovak Paradise

Causes

The power line was cited as the cause of the accident from the beginning. After the accident, the electricity supply to the municipality of Hrabušice was interrupted. An unnamed pilot told Pravda: "Not everything was entirely in order with this power line. It was at a height of approximately 100 metres, which is quite high. And the question also is whether it should have been there in the state it was in." The line belongs to the company Východoslovenská distribučná and was built in 1966. The mandatory official inspection was carried out in July 2013. Power lines are on navigation maps, but not all types. The line over the Hornád Gorge was not on the map.

According to Pravda, the aircraft contained only a Flight Data Recorder, which records only key flight data without an audio track from the cockpit.

The investigation of air accidents falls within the competence of the Aviation and Maritime Investigation Authority of the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic. On 6 November 2015 it issued a final report, in which it states the following main causes:

the main and immediate cause of the accident was the collision of the helicopter with steel power-line wires strung across the gorge of the Hornád river at an overhang, during flight at ground level,

the approach itself and the start of the technical intervention were carried out by the helicopter crew in meteorological conditions in which a negative role was played by the ongoing sunset, whose light in the direction opposite to the helicopter's flight probably caused the pilot to overlook the power-line wires.