Control Device Found Broken in April Chopper Crash in Japan

   Tokyo, May 3 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Transport Safety Board said Friday an investigation of an ambulance helicopter that fatally crashed last month has found that a key component controlling the aircraft's body had been broken.
   Based on the finding, the transport ministry the same day urged owners of helicopters of the same type to check the component called control rod for any abnormalities. The control rod is in the tail rotor section of a helicopter.
   Subject to the inspection are 85 helicopters from the EC135 series manufactured by Airbus Helicopters. The ministry called for the control rod to be replaced if problems are found.
   On April 6, the ambulance helicopter crashed off the city of Iki in Nagasaki Prefecture in the Kyushu southwestern Japan region while heading for a hospital in the city of Fukuoka, the capital of the namesake prefecture in the same region, after departing from an airport in Nagasaki.
   Of the six people on board, three, including a female patient, 86, and a 34-year-old male doctor, died in the accident. The helicopter was operated by SGC Saga Aviation Co., based in the city of Saga, the capital of Saga Prefecture in Kyushu.

(2025/05/03-13:33)