Helicopter accident at Bottensjön
Bell 412 · Misjudgement of visual reference points during approach (indirect)
Event
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- Unknown
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- Military
Bell 412
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The helicopter accident at Bottensjön occurred on 25 March 2003, when an Agusta Bell 412 HP from the first helicopter squadron of the Helicopter Wing crashed during an exercise over Bottensjön near Karlsborg, Karlsborg Municipality.
One crew member was killed and two were slightly injured when the helicopter, during the approach, collided with the ice on the lake, which broke, whereupon the helicopter sank.
Investigation and cause
Causes
In the subsequent investigation the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority established that several mistakes had been made during the exercise. Among other things, the helicopter's own instruments had not been used to judge height; instead reliance had been placed on reference points outside the helicopter, including a tree line between three and five hundred metres in front of the helicopter. The misjudgement meant that during the approach the rate of descent was too high and the helicopter hit the ice on the lake at high speed. In addition, there were shortcomings in the handling of the equipment on board, which the investigation established was a directly contributing cause of the crew member's death.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Swedish Wikipedia article “Helikopterolyckan vid Bottensjön” (revision 57538178, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Swedish Wikipedia article: Helikopterolyckan vid Bottensjön
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 57538178 · 2025-06-01 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q105336466
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- sv Wikipedia article "Helikopterolyckan vid Bottensjön" (page 8529745, revision 57538178), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A helicopter of a squadron of the Helicopter Wing on an exercise: a military flight. The article: "an Agusta Bell 412 HP from the first helicopter squadron of the Helicopter Wing crashed during an exercise"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Swedish Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.