Next emergency at the Armed Forces: After the death of a non-commissioned officer in a tank accident at the Allentsteig military training area on Monday, an Agusta Bell 212 helicopter made an emergency landing in Upper Austria in the Pramet/Feitzing area shortly before 8 p.m. yesterday for reasons that are still unknown and subsequently burnt out.

The six occupants, including two pilots (44 and 28 years old, both from Linz-Land), a technician (35 years old, from Linz) and three flight rescuers (54, 50 and 41 years old, from St. Veit an der Glan, Klagenfurt-Land and Klagenfurt) were able to leave the aircraft in time. They were taken to hospital. Five were able to leave the hospital again after a short time, one flight rescuer remained in hospital for observation, but was also able to leave the hospital again today and is on the road to recovery.

The 23 AB 212 helicopters were brought up to the latest technical standard in 2012, extending their service life until 2037. The Austrian Armed Forces carry out night flights every Tuesday and Thursday. The AB 212 helicopter took off from Linz/Hörsching shortly before 7 p.m. and flew in the direction of Wels. The crew practiced landing in open terrain and probably landed without any problems. During take-off, the helicopter probably got stuck and overturned. Immediately afterwards it caught fire. Three army flight rescuers were on board to train how to use the winch. The wreckage of the helicopter is currently being guarded by military police.

@Federal Army
The aircraft burned out completely and the pilots and passengers were able to escape to safety.

According to information from the Austrian Armed Forces, the Aircraft Accident Commission is currently on site investigating the incident. It will draw up an interim report within the next few weeks. The final report will be presented within twelve months. The task of the Aircraft Accident Commission is to prevent future aircraft accidents and incidents and not to clarify the responsibilities in the case in question. An air accident commission makes recommendations rather than assessments. The removal of the aircraft involved in the accident is currently being organized, but requires the approval of the Aircraft Accident Commission. As the crash site is close to a well and water protection area, it may be necessary to excavate the affected area due to the contamination of the soil. This is still being clarified with the responsible authorities. https://militaeraktuell.at/gdels-steyr-macht-bei-der-fennek-nachfolge-ernst/ The helicopter involved had an operating time of 6,277 flight hours before the night flight. The last maintenance on this aircraft took place between October 4 and 10. The mid-life update (MLU) was carried out on this aircraft from April 2015 to April 2016; after the MLU, it completed 830 flight hours. The MLU of the entire Agusta Bell fleet was carried out between 2012 and 2016. “Midlife Update” (MLU)
The “Mildlife Update” for the AB 212 was carried out on all aircraft in Italy from 2013 to 2016. The focus was on adapting the cockpit to modern display devices in order to reflect the state of the art and ensure the safety and continued usability of the system. The aim is to increase situational awareness and thus flight safety while simultaneously reducing the pilots’ workload. The MLU has extended the service life of this helicopter by 25 years. This helicopter could therefore have been used until 2041.

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