Black box data showed the aircraft "yawed to the right" when the pedal should have sent it left.GETTY IMAGES
The helicopter that crashed outside EPL side Leicester City's stadium, killing five people including club Owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, "failed to respond to the pilot's pedal commands in the moments before it started spinning downwards," investigators found, according to Gwyn Topham of the London GUARDIAN. A "special bulletin" released by the Air Accident Investigation Board said that "the immediate focus would be on the helicopter's tail rotor control system," which safety agencies have ordered to be checked in all similar models. Black box data showed the aircraft "yawed to the right" when the pedal should have sent it left. The helicopter had made four successful flights earlier that day, bringing Srivaddhanaprabha and his guests from London to watch Leicester City play and then making a short flight into the King Power Stadium to collect them after the match. Initial evidence from the black box recorder retrieved from the wreckage has shown that at 8:37pm on Oct. 27, the helicopter climbed to 320ft from the center circle of the Leicester pitch before retracting its landing gear. It "continued to climb and set its course while apparently under control, before turning its nose to the right, contrary to the pilot's pedal commands." From a height of 430ft, the helicopter started "descending with a high rotation rate" before crashing in an almost upright position, with its landing gear still retracted, on concrete steps next to the stadium's car park, "rolling on to its left side and being rapidly engulfed in flames." Investigators said that much of the airframe was "almost completely consumed by fire" (GUARDIAN, 11/14).
