Narrative:

The medical crew and I accepted a call for a hospital transport.... I was waiting for an approved flight risk assessment while installing my night vision goggles (nvgs) standing next to the pilot seat. After the flight risk was approved; I showed it to one of my medical crew and announced green. I placed the ipad on the floor leaned against the center console while securing my logbook; clipboard; and handheld radio. The medical crew and I ensured the aircraft was unplugged and ready to be moved. The aircraft was pulled out of the hangar; with both of the medical crew as wing walkers; and was placed in its designated position faced into the wind. I completed my walk-around and announced that the aircraft was ready for flight. I climbed in the aircraft and went through my checklist to start the aircraft without issue. The aircraft was safe and ready for flight when I announced to [company] communication center my intentions. I picked the aircraft up after receiving the all clear from the crew. We then cleared the cart; the tail; and the sky before initiating a takeoff. During my power pull and at an altitude of approximately 40 feet; I felt the cyclic bind while putting in forward left pressure. This caused the aircraft to start a right drift. The crew asked me if I saw the tied down fixed aircraft wing that we were drifting towards and I announced that I have a control malfunction causing me to drift right. We continued to gain altitude and bank to the right as I was rapidly trying to identify the issue and keep the crew calm by announcing my mental process. I announced to [company] communication center that we had a potential hydraulics malfunction. The bank continued and we started to lose altitude because of it. As we were approaching the taxiway; I was able to free the controls and slow the aircraft down. I performed a precautionary run-on landing although I did not feel any continued indication of a problem. While doing so the medical crew announced to communication that we were aborting the flight and that they smelled smoke. I attributed the smell to the run-on landing. While stopped I started to trouble shoot the malfunction by isolating each hydraulic servo. While feeling out the controls I reached down and saw that the ipad had wedged itself between the center console and the cyclic impeding my ability to move the cyclic left. I announced to communication center what happened and briefed the crew to my tremendous mistake.I am horribly embarrassed by this event as my haste to get the aircraft out of the hangar could have led to a catastrophic situation. In hindsight I can see the exact moment where I would normally ensure the ipad is free and away from the controls but moved on to the next item on the agenda. Because it was night; I did not notice the ipad when I entered the aircraft and again missed another opportunity to correct its placement. In the future; I will always place the ipad in the same secured location and perform a check prior to start-up ensuring that the controls are visually unobstructed from potential hazards.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A119 pilot reported that an iPad was inadvertently left between the center console and the cyclic temporarily restricted lateral movement of the cyclic.

Narrative: The medical crew and I accepted a call for a hospital transport.... I was waiting for an approved flight risk assessment while installing my Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) standing next to the pilot seat. After the flight risk was approved; I showed it to one of my medical crew and announced green. I placed the iPad on the floor leaned against the center console while securing my logbook; clipboard; and handheld radio. The medical crew and I ensured the aircraft was unplugged and ready to be moved. The aircraft was pulled out of the hangar; with both of the medical crew as wing walkers; and was placed in its designated position faced into the wind. I completed my walk-around and announced that the aircraft was ready for flight. I climbed in the aircraft and went through my checklist to start the aircraft without issue. The aircraft was safe and ready for flight when I announced to [Company] Communication Center my intentions. I picked the aircraft up after receiving the all clear from the crew. We then cleared the cart; the tail; and the sky before initiating a takeoff. During my power pull and at an altitude of approximately 40 feet; I felt the cyclic bind while putting in forward left pressure. This caused the aircraft to start a right drift. The crew asked me if I saw the tied down fixed aircraft wing that we were drifting towards and I announced that I have a control malfunction causing me to drift right. We continued to gain altitude and bank to the right as I was rapidly trying to identify the issue and keep the crew calm by announcing my mental process. I announced to [Company] Communication Center that we had a potential hydraulics malfunction. The bank continued and we started to lose altitude because of it. As we were approaching the taxiway; I was able to free the controls and slow the aircraft down. I performed a precautionary run-on landing although I did not feel any continued indication of a problem. While doing so the medical crew announced to Communication that we were aborting the flight and that they smelled smoke. I attributed the smell to the run-on landing. While stopped I started to trouble shoot the malfunction by isolating each hydraulic servo. While feeling out the controls I reached down and saw that the iPad had wedged itself between the center console and the cyclic impeding my ability to move the cyclic left. I announced to Communication center what happened and briefed the crew to my tremendous mistake.I am horribly embarrassed by this event as my haste to get the aircraft out of the hangar could have led to a catastrophic situation. In hindsight I can see the exact moment where I would normally ensure the iPad is free and away from the controls but moved on to the next item on the agenda. Because it was night; I did not notice the iPad when I entered the aircraft and again missed another opportunity to correct its placement. In the future; I will always place the iPad in the same secured location and perform a check prior to start-up ensuring that the controls are visually unobstructed from potential hazards.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.