Investigators are looking specifically at the tail rotor control system of the helicopter that crashed and killed Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha last month, with the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) claiming that the aircraft did not respond to pilot commands.
The 27 October accident, which also claimed the lives of four others on-board, continues to be investigated after Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s private helicopter crashed outside the King Power Stadium, roughly 40 seconds after take-off.
Investigators have said that the aircraft did not respond to the pilot’s command, with an AAIB report claiming that it started to turn right “contrary to the pilot’s left pedal command”.
Investigators are yet to determine why the pilot lost control with the AAIB stating that the “cause of the apparent loss of yaw control has yet to be determined”, but added that “investigation of the tail rotor system is being carried out as a priority”.
Footage of the incident appears to show that sections of the tail rotor may have fallen off in mid-air.
The aircraft reached an altitude of approximately 430ft before plummeting to the ground in a car park near Leicester City’s King Power Stadium, the AAIB said.
It was “rapidly engulfed in an intense post-impact fire” and all five people on board were killed.
Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, employees Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, pilot Eric Swaffer and his partner, Izabela Roza Lechowicz – who was also a professional pilot – were all killed in the accident.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s helicopter crashed outside the King Power Stadium (Reuters)
Following the crash, the European Aviation Safety Agency ordered that safety checks should be carried out on the tail rotors of AW169 helicopters and similar models.
The first flight of the day for the helicopter involved in the crash was from Fairoaks Airport in Surrey, with one pilot and one passenger.
Three additional passengers boarded at London Heliport in Battersea, south London, before the helicopter flew to Leicester City’s Belvoir Drive training ground in Leicester, where it was shut down.
Five occupants on board the helicopter were killed in the crash (Getty)
All five occupants went to the stadium, where Leicester were playing West Ham United in a Premier League fixture.
The pilot and a passenger returned to the training ground to make the short flight to land on the centre circle of the stadium’s pitch.
Soon after taking off 50 minutes later, at 8.37pm, the helicopter crashed.
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