Narrative:

I turned final for the hospital helipad at 500 ft. AGL. I called final to stat radio and lowered the collective to approximately 45% tq. As I lowered the collective I heard a loud grinding noise. At nearly the same time the crew asked what is that? I looked to the left side engine panel and saw the number 1 side filling up with cautions related to [the] engine such as oil pressure; temp etc. At nearly the same time I changed the aircraft attitude to gain airspeed and abort the landing. In moments the crew said they smelled smoke and they saw an orange glow on the left side. As I was turning away from the pad I reached over and shut off the engine. I established single engine ops and announced my intent to go to ZZZ airport. During this time I was also watching for a fire warning indication illumination that might cause me to land sooner than ZZZ airport. I asked the crew if they could still see an orange glow on the left side and they said no. I passed the aircraft checklist back to the crew and asked them to read the portion on engine failure which they did. I continued my climb to clear the ridgelines between hospital and the airport. The crew asked if they should call statcom to have aircraft Y repo to the airport to get the patient which I thought was a great idea. The radio operator had already thought of that and they were dispatching aircraft Y. I briefed the crew on what we were going to do; a running landing to the airport. I asked the crew to ask the radio operator to dispatch fire trucks to the airport; in case I screwed up the landing or I had residual fire that I was not aware of. Before landing check completed I turned to land the parallel taxiway for runway xx. As I was on base I changed my mind and decided to take the runway xx. The parallel for runway xx is not straight for very long and then it bends. At night on night vision goggles; with patients I was not taking the chance. I added to the crew that we train for this all the time. A shallow approach to running landing is really a non event due to our training. On final I set up for the shallow approach. I allowed the aircraft to touchdown and come to a stop. Aircraft Y landed and transferred my crew and patient to hospital. My shutdown of number 2 engine was uneventful. The max tq I remember seeing during the whole event was 101.5% temperature outside was about -2C. The mechanics showed up about 45 minutes later. Aircraft Y had been dispatched to recover the wheels and tow bar from aircraft Z base. It took him about an hour to get back. Once he was there the mechanics put the wheels and tow bar on and cleared the runway. After I landed I called approach and told them that my aircraft was on the runway. Ocs called the FSS to send out a NOTAM. Once the aircraft was off the runway I called approach to tell them as such. I also called ocs to call the FSS. Inside the aircraft we worked as a team. The crew did a great job of providing patient care and providing information and checklist verification when I asked for it. The radio operator and the ocs were excellent. They were all about support without asking questions. Whatever we asked for they were on it.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot reported an engine fire on approach; requiring an inflight engine shut down and divert.

Narrative: I turned final for the hospital helipad at 500 ft. AGL. I called final to STAT Radio and lowered the collective to approximately 45% TQ. As I lowered the collective I heard a loud grinding noise. At nearly the same time the crew asked what is that? I looked to the left side engine panel and saw the number 1 side filling up with cautions related to [the] engine such as oil pressure; temp etc. At nearly the same time I changed the aircraft attitude to gain airspeed and abort the landing. In moments the crew said they smelled smoke and they saw an orange glow on the left side. As I was turning away from the pad I reached over and shut off the engine. I established single engine ops and announced my intent to go to ZZZ Airport. During this time I was also watching for a fire warning indication illumination that might cause me to land sooner than ZZZ Airport. I asked the crew if they could still see an orange glow on the left side and they said no. I passed the Aircraft checklist back to the crew and asked them to read the portion on engine failure which they did. I continued my climb to clear the ridgelines between hospital and the airport. The crew asked if they should call STATCOM to have Aircraft Y repo to the airport to get the patient which I thought was a great idea. The radio operator had already thought of that and they were dispatching Aircraft Y. I briefed the crew on what we were going to do; a running landing to the airport. I asked the crew to ask the radio operator to dispatch fire trucks to the airport; in case I screwed up the landing or I had residual fire that I was not aware of. Before landing check completed I turned to land the parallel taxiway for Runway XX. As I was on base I changed my mind and decided to take the Runway XX. The parallel for Runway XX is not straight for very long and then it bends. At Night on night vision goggles; with patients I was not taking the chance. I added to the crew that we train for this all the time. A shallow approach to running landing is really a non event due to our training. On final I set up for the shallow approach. I allowed the aircraft to touchdown and come to a stop. Aircraft Y landed and transferred my crew and patient to Hospital. My shutdown of Number 2 engine was uneventful. The max TQ I remember seeing during the whole event was 101.5% Temperature outside was about -2C. The Mechanics showed up about 45 minutes later. Aircraft Y had been dispatched to recover the wheels and tow bar from Aircraft Z base. It took him about an hour to get back. Once he was there the mechanics put the wheels and tow bar on and cleared the runway. After I landed I called approach and told them that my aircraft was on the runway. OCS called the FSS to send out a NOTAM. Once the aircraft was off the runway I called Approach to tell them as such. I also called OCS to call the FSS. Inside the aircraft we worked as a team. The crew did a great job of providing patient care and providing information and checklist verification when I asked for it. The Radio Operator and the OCS were excellent. They were all about support without asking questions. Whatever we asked for they were on it.

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.