This morning (Friday), the Air Force published the second interim report of the investigation of the bat helicopter crash last month off the coast of Haifa, in which the late Lt. Col. Erez Shahayani and the late Major Chen Fogel were killed. Captain Ron Birman, an officer, survived the accident. The sea tour.
According to the report of the team of experts set up following the accident, which was submitted this morning to the commander of the Air Force, Major General Amikam Nurkin, it appears that the team will operate a complex emergency, for about two minutes until the water is damaged. The investigation team found that the fighters would operate the incident calmly, with continuous teamwork, in rapid diagnosis and in attempts to respond to changes, thus contributing to the rescue of Captain Biderman.
The late Major Chen Fogel (Credit: IDF Spokesman)
According to the report, the incident occurred due to an internal failure in the left engine, which later caused a fire to ignite and smoke to penetrate the crew compartment. The spread of the fire also caused damage to the engine on the right side. As a result of the damage to both engines, the helicopter quickly lowered and hit the water hard. The intensity of the damage to the water left the pilots unconscious or dysfunctional, and no actions were identified that indicated their attempted rescue. It can be determined that the pilots drowned.
An inspection of the helicopter engine by the manufacturer reveals that the technical failure of the left engine was due to hot corrosion in an internal component, which led to the formation of a fatigue crack in the engine turbine blade, which developed in flight and eventually caused abnormally developed fire.
The report stated that the engine was last inspected by the manufacturer in 2017, in accordance with procedures stipulating that this is required to be done every 1650 engine hours. Less than 1,400 hours have passed since the last inspection of this engine until the accident.
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In addition, about a year ago, the helicopter underwent a comprehensive inspection in Israel and was found to be in good condition. We emphasize that according to the manufacturer, this failure is the first of its kind in the world. The reason for the formation of hot corrosion in the internal component of the engine is still being examined. Inspection and repair of the internal components of the engine, are done only by the manufacturer.
The investigation team found that the fighters would operate the incident calmly and under difficult conditions, in continuous teamwork, in rapid diagnosis and in attempts to respond to changes. It was further found that the pilots did not shut down the engine before operating the fire extinguishing tanks and thus the efficiency of the extinguishing systems was reduced, but it is not possible to determine whether this action could have saved them.
The crew continued to fly the helicopter until the moment the water hit, thus contributing to the rescue of Captain Ron Birman. After the powerful hit the water the helicopter capsized a few seconds later. The crew operated the buoyancy systems, but these systems are not designed to deal with such an impact hit and so the right buoy exploded. The tail assembly broke, the naval patrol officer’s door opened and the helicopter began to sink.
The report revealed that under the conditions of this accident, the pilots could not have been rescued, who may have lost consciousness further during the flight. However, thanks to the actions of the pilots at the time of the crash, Captain Birman was rescued alive.
The report also states that within eight minutes of losing contact with the helicopter, rescue and rescue operations began and forces from the Air Force, the Navy and the Israel Police were launched.
The late Major Chen Fogel (Photo: IDF Spokesman)The Air Force Commander, received the interim findings and the crew’s recommendations for the continuation of the inspection process including a gradual return of the bat helicopters to the flight and the continuation of the inspection process on technical issues, helicopter maintenance, literature, training, instruction, control and more.
The Air Force Commander concluded: “Since the accident there has been a cross-continental effort, with no resource limit, with a variety of consultants, civilian companies, test pilots and the manufacturer in France to understand in depth the circumstances of the accident. We found no failure in the ongoing maintenance process. “Many years, and its engines are common in the world and do not sell accidents of an unusual scale. Every accident is preventable, and we understand that the cause of the accident was a technical fault. We will continue to investigate and improve and do as much as possible to prevent recurrence of such incidents.”
The late Lt. Col. Erez Shahayani, Deputy Commander of the Ramat David Base, and the late Major Chen Fogel, Deputy Commander of the Defenders of the West Squadron, both pilots and senior corps commanders, professional and experienced, who performed many training and operational activities and accumulated thousands of hours Flight, held command and combat roles and contributed greatly to the security of the State of Israel. The pilots performed emergency and escape drills that trained them to deal with extreme events. “The crew dealt with a malfunction and a sequence of events in the air in a short time, calmly and with teamwork, and their actions resulted in the helicopter hitting the water in a way that enabled Captain Ron Birman to be rescued.”
The Bat Helicopter (Photo: IDF Spokesman)As you may recall, the fatal accident occurred after the helicopter took off from Ramat David base for a routine training flight and crashed into the sea on its way back to land. The crash occurred when the helicopter was flying east at a low speed, hundreds of meters from the shore and near the Bat Galim promenade. Two IDF officers were killed in the accident – the late Lt. Col. Erez Shahanei, the deputy commander of the Ramat David base, and the late Major Chen Fogel, the deputy commander of the Defenders of the West Squadron (193).
According to the first interim report of the team of experts, the helicopter crew experienced an emergency, which developed rapidly in dark conditions, at an altitude of about 700-800 meters above sea level, as a result of an engine malfunction. Smoke entered the cell and then spread to the right engine.In addition to the findings of the fire in the left engine, the investigation team also discovered damage to the right engine.
From the moment the fault was identified and declared an ’emergency state’ until the moment the water hit, less than two minutes passed, during which the team managed to operate the fault calmly and perform rapid emergency operations in accordance with procedures and structures: fault diagnosis, engine fire extinguishing systems Prevent the spread of fire and operate emergency buoyancy systems.