After landing; an as-350 pilot discovered an open cargo door. The reporter believed he may not have ...

Narrative:

After we touched down on the last leg of a flight; a cabin crewmember climbed out and viewed the left side of the aircraft. He leaned back inside and said the aft cargo door was open. As I was shutting down the aircraft I looked at the caution warning panel and saw that the door light was illuminated. This was not the case in flight. We had just been at the (airport) for fuel. When the fueler had finished fueling; I placed the fuel cap back on and put the key back in the aft cargo and closed the door; but I don't remember closing the latches. I reached down and unhooked the static line and recoiled it for the fueler. Once completed; I went to the door of the truck and waited for a receipt. Once that happened; I walked back to the aircraft and again missed that I had not latched the aft cargo door. I proceeded around the aircraft on my walk around. I understand what I did wrong and will work harder to making sure it doesn't happen again.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After landing; an AS-350 pilot discovered an open cargo door. The reporter believed he may not have properly secured the door after fueling at an en route stop.

Narrative: After we touched down on the last leg of a flight; a cabin crewmember climbed out and viewed the left side of the aircraft. He leaned back inside and said the aft cargo door was open. As I was shutting down the aircraft I looked at the caution warning panel and saw that the door light was illuminated. This was not the case in flight. We had just been at the (Airport) for fuel. When the fueler had finished fueling; I placed the fuel cap back on and put the key back in the aft cargo and closed the door; but I don't remember closing the latches. I reached down and unhooked the static line and recoiled it for the fueler. Once completed; I went to the door of the truck and waited for a receipt. Once that happened; I walked back to the aircraft and again missed that I had not latched the aft cargo door. I proceeded around the aircraft on my walk around. I understand what I did wrong and will work harder to making sure it doesn't happen again.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	854570
Time
Date	200910
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Eurocopter AS 350/355/EC130 - Astar/Twinstar/Ecureuil
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Parked
Component
Aircraft Component	Cargo Door
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

After landing; an as-350 pilot discovered an open cargo door. The reporter believed he may not have properly secured the door after fueling at an en route stop.