In a bizarre twist to a routine aerial survey, a helicopter crashed shortly after take-off, due to an unexpected passenger – a penguin in a cardboard box.
According to a report by the Accident and Incident Investigations Division of the South African Civil Aviation Authority, the crash happened on January 19, during a flight from Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport to Bird Island in the Eastern Cape.
The Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter was transporting a specialist and two passengers for an aerial survey of Bird Island. The mission proceeded smoothly, and the pilot landed the aircraft safely when the survey was complete.
However, events took a dramatic turn when the specialist asked the pilot to transport one of the penguins back to the airport. The pilot agreed, and the penguin was placed in a cardboard box.
During lift-off, the box was held on the lap of the front-left passenger. But, at around 15m off the ground, the box slipped off and fell onto the pilot’s cyclic pitch control lever, which shifted to the far-right position. As a result, the helicopter rolled to the right and the pilot couldn’t recover in time.
The helicopter’s main rotor blades struck the ground, and the helicopter crashed on its starboard side, about 20m from the point of lift-off.
While the helicopter had substantial damage, remarkably none of the occupants – nor the penguin – were injured.
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