THE helicopter that crashed last week in Bahamian waters, killing seven, was nearly identical to a craft that crashed less than a year ago in the United Kingdom and resulted in the deaths of five people, including a pilot and four passengers from the Leicester City Football Club.

On October 27, 2018, an AgustaWestland AW169 chopper crashed shortly after take-off from the King Power Stadium, home of the football club. Among those killed was billionaire club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. UK investigators blamed the crash on a loss of yaw control owing to a failure of the tail rotor control linkage.

The European Aviation Safety Agency subsequently issued an airworthiness directive demanding checks of tails on all AgustaWestland AW169 helicopters as a precautionary measure. That directive was identical to one the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration issued in 2018 concerning the helicopter model involved in last week’s crash, the AgustaWestland AW139.

Click here to read more at The Tribune