Helicopter crashes in bizarre circumstances after unsecured penguin led pilot to lose control of aircraft

In some pretty bizarre circumstances, an ‘unsecured’ penguin ended up being the cause of a helicopter crash.

I know, sounds like the plot of some spoof film or maybe a sequel to Mr. Popper’s Penguins with Jim Carrey in the pilot seat.

But it’s not like the penguin was just wandering about the chopper as a little side kick character.

The bird had been placed in a cardboard box and was on a passenger’s lap when the helicopter set off from Bird Island, off the Eastern Cape in South Africa on 19 January.

And a report into the incident has now found the penguin to be the cause of it crashing just after take-off.

The penguin was innocent. (South African Civil Aviation Authority)

According to the South African Civil Aviation Authority’s report (released this week), the flight had been conducting an aerial survey of the island.

It did not say why the penguin had been picked up.

Once the survey was completed and the helicopter landed, a specialist reportedly requested that the one penguin got transported back to Port Elizabeth.

The authority said that the pilot of the Robinson R44 Raven II conducted a ‘risk assessment.' However, they omitted to include the transport of the penguin on the helicopter, which ‘was not in accordance with the Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR) 2011’.

Instead of the bird being secured into a crate, it was simply placed in a cardboard box and onto the researcher’s lap.

“The passenger seated in the left front seat placed the cardboard box containing the penguin on his lap and secured it with his hands,” reported the South African Civil Aviation Authority. “The pilot reported that before lifting off, he conducted an inspection of the helicopter and no abnormalities were found.”

The pilot had only recently started the engine with the chopper getting to about 50 feet above the ground when the box slid off the specialist’s lap.

The helicopter was damaged but the people - and the penguin - were uninjured. (South African Civil Aviation Authority)

And rather unfortunately, it slid off to the right – in the direction of the pilot’s cyclic pitch control lever.

Knocking into it, it caused it to move to the far-right position and resulted in a sudden pitch. The main rotor blades struck the ground and the helicopter crashed, just roughly 20m from the point of lift-off.

According to the report, while the helicopter sustained substantial damage, none of the people on board were injured. And I know what you’re wondering – the penguin was also unharmed.

"The absence of a proper, secured crate meant that the penguin's containment was not suitable for the flight conditions," it added.

The report also recommended that the pilot undergoes training on the correct way to follow safety procedures.