Narrative:

I had completed a walk around of the aircraft and secured the co-pilot's door; leaving both clamshells and side doors open for the medical crew's return. The patient was loaded with assistance of fire department personnel.after securing the rear clamshell doors and guiding ground crew away from aircraft I commenced a walk around from pilot's side to the rear of the aircraft and then down the co-pilot's side. I saw another member of the ground crew had stopped on the co-pilot's side; holding an oxygen bottle; talking with the medical crew through the open sliding door as he was closing the copilot's door. I asked him to leave to the front of the aircraft as he appeared to want to go around the back and duck under the tail. After I saw him leave I closed the medical crew sliding door myself and checked the handles of the doors were level and locked.aircraft was started and lifted normally. I was aware that there was two sets of wires in front of me; although in the dark I could only see the first set. I pulled power for a vertical take off to clear the wires; then saw the second set and maintained power to vertically clear those before moving forward. As soon as I started forward and was crossing the first set of wires the co-pilot's door popped slightly open from the bottom set of locks that were apparently not engaged. I informed the crew that the door had come open and that I was aware of it and that it was not a problem.I had to continue forward; climbing as I was approaching the second; higher set of high tension wires. The medic behind the co-pilot's seat said that he was able to hold the door handle and I asked if he was comfortable with that. He said he was. Rather than return to a tight landing zone in the dark where the ground crew; with whom we had no contact; was already clearing the area and as it was a short three minute flight to the hospital; I elected to continue at a reduced speed to the hospital helipad. I again asked the medic if he was comfortable with that and he replied that he was.the flight to the helipad was made at a reduced speed and we landed safely. I believed to continue the flight was the safest option. The landing zone we had left was surrounded by trees on three sides and wires in front. With no ground contact I had no way of advising the ground crews what we were doing and to reverse back over the first set of wires or another low orbit where I considered it more dangerous than continuing.in the future I will check and recheck whenever untrained people are opening and closing aircraft doors.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: When the right side crew door opened shortly after takeoff from a confined and dark landing zone; the helicopter pilot determined it was a safer course of action to complete the short flight to their destination rather than attempt to return to the demanding departure zone.

Narrative: I had completed a walk around of the aircraft and secured the co-pilot's door; leaving both clamshells and side doors open for the medical crew's return. The patient was loaded with assistance of fire department personnel.After securing the rear clamshell doors and guiding ground crew away from aircraft I commenced a walk around from pilot's side to the rear of the aircraft and then down the co-pilot's side. I saw another member of the ground crew had stopped on the co-pilot's side; holding an oxygen bottle; talking with the medical crew through the open sliding door as he was closing the copilot's door. I asked him to leave to the front of the aircraft as he appeared to want to go around the back and duck under the tail. After I saw him leave I closed the medical crew sliding door myself and checked the handles of the doors were level and locked.Aircraft was started and lifted normally. I was aware that there was two sets of wires in front of me; although in the dark I could only see the first set. I pulled power for a vertical take off to clear the wires; then saw the second set and maintained power to vertically clear those before moving forward. As soon as I started forward and was crossing the first set of wires the co-pilot's door popped slightly open from the bottom set of locks that were apparently not engaged. I informed the crew that the door had come open and that I was aware of it and that it was not a problem.I had to continue forward; climbing as I was approaching the second; higher set of high tension wires. The medic behind the co-pilot's seat said that he was able to hold the door handle and I asked if he was comfortable with that. He said he was. Rather than return to a tight landing zone in the dark where the ground crew; with whom we had no contact; was already clearing the area and as it was a short three minute flight to the hospital; I elected to continue at a reduced speed to the hospital helipad. I again asked the medic if he was comfortable with that and he replied that he was.The flight to the helipad was made at a reduced speed and we landed safely. I believed to continue the flight was the safest option. The landing zone we had left was surrounded by trees on three sides and wires in front. With no ground contact I had no way of advising the ground crews what we were doing and to reverse back over the first set of wires or another low orbit where I considered it more dangerous than continuing.In the future I will check and recheck whenever untrained people are opening and closing aircraft doors.

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.