On the 22 September 2023, a Bell Helicopters 407, conducting a passenger flight from Sengapi to Gerbrau Airstrip in Madang Province, collided with terrain during the approach to the airstrip. All of the occupants sustained serious injuries and the helicopter was destroyed.
The Accident Investigation Commission (AIC) of Papua New Guinea requested assistance from the ATSB to oversee the data being downloaded from the engine control unit, at a maintenance organisation in Australia.
To facilitate this support and to provide the appropriate protections for the information, the ATSB appointed an accredited representative in accordance with paragraph 5.23 of ICAO Annex 13 and commenced an investigation under the Australian Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003.
The ATSB attended the successful download of the aircraft engine control unit data at an Asia Pacific Aerospace facility on 1 November 2023 with a technical representative of Rolls Royce. The data was extracted according to Rolls Royce procedures, however it was not possible to determine whether it contained all the relevant data for the occurrence as it could not be accessed locally. The data was provided to the Rolls Royce technical representative for further analysis. No further assistance was sought by, and further enquiries should be directed to the Papua New Guinea AIC as the investigating agency.