Bell 212 first officer reports high descent rate into a snow covered landing site that resulted in e...

Narrative:

I was flying as second in command in a bell 212 helicopter and our mission was to take 2 passengers and bags to a field site. The weather was reported; from an airfield which is about 3 miles or less from our take off point; to be 4100 ft and 9 miles visibility. We departed to the field site and shortly we encountered a pretty heavy snow shower. As we approached an intermediate waypoint; we could see it at 3 miles. We continued on to our landing site and initiated our approach from approximately 1000 ft at about .2 miles. I called out that we were too close to make the approach; at which time the pilot in command made a go-around and set up for another approach. Upon starting the second approach; I again stated we were too close; and we were already in a descent. Our rate of descent became too great to accomplish a landing and at the bottom of our approach; the PIC leveled the aircraft and pulled in the collective to keep us from impacting the ground. We were enveloped in a very thick snow cloud and the pilot did an ito to about 50 ft to clear us from the snow cloud. We over-torqued the aircraft to 115% N2 and it is only allowed 100%. After consulting with our director of maintenance; director of operations; and chief pilot; we flew the aircraft back to base; a distance of about 20 miles; so that our maintenance people could look at the aircraft. We should not have flown the aircraft until it was properly inspected and pronounced airworthy; but the fact that there was only an ice road out to the helicopter influenced us to try to make it easier on our mechanics to work on the aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Bell 212 First Officer reports high descent rate into a snow covered landing site that resulted in engine over torque and momentary IMC due to snow kicked up from the site. A decision was reached between the pilots and company management to fly back to base for a maintenance inspection.

Narrative: I was flying as Second in Command in a Bell 212 helicopter and our mission was to take 2 passengers and bags to a field site. The weather was reported; from an airfield which is about 3 miles or less from our take off point; to be 4100 FT and 9 miles visibility. We departed to the field site and shortly we encountered a pretty heavy snow shower. As we approached an intermediate waypoint; we could see it at 3 miles. We continued on to our landing site and initiated our approach from approximately 1000 FT at about .2 miles. I called out that we were too close to make the approach; at which time the pilot in command made a go-around and set up for another approach. Upon starting the second approach; I again stated we were too close; and we were already in a descent. Our rate of descent became too great to accomplish a landing and at the bottom of our approach; the PIC leveled the aircraft and pulled in the collective to keep us from impacting the ground. We were enveloped in a very thick snow cloud and the pilot did an ITO to about 50 FT to clear us from the snow cloud. We over-torqued the aircraft to 115% N2 and it is only allowed 100%. After consulting with our Director of Maintenance; Director of Operations; and Chief Pilot; we flew the aircraft back to base; a distance of about 20 miles; so that our maintenance people could look at the aircraft. We should not have flown the aircraft until it was properly inspected and pronounced airworthy; but the fact that there was only an ice road out to the helicopter influenced us to try to make it easier on our mechanics to work on the aircraft.

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	869932
Time
Date	201001
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Iroquois 212/214
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Final Approach Landing
Flight Plan	VFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Turbine Engine
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 211.2 Flight Crew Total 13000 Flight Crew Type 399
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach

Bell 212 first officer reports high descent rate into a snow covered landing site that resulted in engine over torque and momentary IMC due to snow kicked up from the site. A decision was reached between the pilots and company management to fly back to base for a maintenance inspection.