Helicopter accident at Rörö

The helicopter accident at Rörö occurred on 18 November 2003, when a Eurocopter AS332M1 Super Puma (Helikopter 10) with callsign "Helge 99" from the fifth helicopter squadron crashed during a night exercise together with the Swedish Sea Rescue Society's rescue cruiser Märta Collin east of Rörö, in Öckerö Municipality in Gothenburg's northern archipelago. Six of the seven crew members on board were killed.

After the accident, money was collected for the benefit of the Swedish Sea Rescue Society to finance the construction of six rescuerunners, a type of purpose-built personal watercraft for sea rescue. The boats were named after the six crew members who were killed.

Sequence of events of the accident

As part of the training of two conscript rescue swimmers, a night exercise was planned to be carried out together with the rescue cruiser Märta Collin, based at the Swedish Sea Rescue Society's station on Rörö. The aim of the exercise was to practise winching with a stretcher with the vessel under way. Five regular crew members as well as a flight engineer trainee and a conscript rescue swimmer trainee took part in the exercise.

On the evening of 18 November the first of two flight sessions was carried out, during which the crew practised approach and winching towards Märta Collin. The helicopter returned at 18:11 to its home base at Säve to refuel and change crew ahead of a further winching exercise together with the rescue cruiser. The flight engineer was replaced by a relieving flight engineer; likewise one of the conscript rescue swimmer trainees stepped off to be replaced by another conscript rescue swimmer trainee. The regular conscript rescue swimmer took part in both flights to serve as instructor.

The helicopter took off at 18:32 and set course westwards towards the exercise area. At 18:40 the last radar registration of the helicopter was made, at that time at a height of about 40 metres above sea level. The crew of Märta Collin, which was lying somewhat east of Rörö, shortly afterwards saw a diffuse glow of light, followed by a sharper white light followed by a dull bang. A radar echo was detected at the same time about 400 metres ahead of the vessel. Märta Collin immediately set course towards the radar echo with searchlights on, and at a distance of about 100 metres was able to spot the rescue swimmer lying in the water near a larger piece of wreckage. The vessel's crew then contacted, at o'clock, the MRCC and reported that the helicopter had crashed into the sea. Märta Collin then entered the crash area, which was covered with aviation kerosene floating on the water surface. The rescue swimmer could be rescued from the sea and was later transferred to a police boat for transport to an ambulance on the mainland. At the time of the crash the man had not been strapped into any seat or in restraint harnesses, and received only a minor injury when he was separated from the helicopter.

During the evening and night an extensive search was carried out for the rest of the helicopter's crew. Units from the SSRS, the Coast Guard, the Maritime Police, the Swedish Armed Forces and civilian fishing vessels took part. Within an hour the commander, co-pilot, flight engineer trainee and rescue swimmer trainee had been found dead and recovered. In connection with locating the helicopter wreck the day after the accident, the system operator and the flight engineer were also found dead.

The helicopter had broken apart on impact and lay in two larger parts about 500 metres apart. On 23 November 2003 the front part of the wreck was salvaged, and the rear part of the helicopter hull was salvaged on 25 November 2003. After salvage the seabed was trawled in an attempt to recover missing parts, but practically no loose wreckage was found between the two salvage sites.

Cause of the accident

In the subsequent investigation the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority could not establish the cause of the accident. The overall assessment, however, suggests that the crew lost orientation regarding the aircraft's attitude during take-off from a hover at low altitude during the approach towards Märta Collin. The investigation also established that several safety barriers to prevent an accident were missing, among them a ground collision warning system.