Leicester City Owner’s Helicopter Crash Was “Accident Waiting to Happen,” Inquest Finds

helicopter
The Leonardo AW169 helicopter

LONDONAn inquest into the 2018 helicopter crash that killed Leicester City Football Club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others has concluded that design flaws by manufacturer Leonardo made the tragedy “an accident waiting to happen,” according to statements from the family’s legal representative on January 28, 2025.

The Leonardo AW169 helicopter crashed at the King Power Stadium on October 27, 2018, claiming the lives of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, pilot Eric Swaffer, Izabela Lechowicz, Nusara Suknamai, and Kaveporn Punparev.

During the two-and-a-half-week inquest, evidence revealed that the crash resulted from the seizure of a critical bearing in the tail rotor system, despite the helicopter being new and properly maintained. The jury heard that Leonardo was aware of potential catastrophic consequences in the design, which included a single point of failure.

Philip Shepherd KC, representing the victims’ families, stated that a “straightforward design modification” – already used in an earlier helicopter model – could have prevented the aircraft from entering an accelerated spin after the bearing seized. The bearing, which had an expected lifespan of 2,400 hours, failed after just 330 hours of ordinary use.

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The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) discovered three other bearings in similar conditions approaching failure, far short of their expected lifespan. The investigation also revealed that Leonardo had not shared actual test flight data with their subcontractor, showing greater forces on the tail rotor assembly than theoretical modeling had indicated.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, son of the late Leicester City owner, said, “My father trusted in the design of this helicopter. It was Leonardo’s responsibility to make sure the helicopter was safe. It wasn’t safe. It was a death trap.”

He added, “The leader of our family, a caring and devoted husband, father and grandfather, we feel my father’s loss every day. A one-of-a-kind, investor in dreams, it is impossible to put my father into words.”

The tragedy occurred despite pilot Eric Swaffer being highly experienced and taking all possible measures to control the aircraft after the tail rotor failed during takeoff. The inquest highlighted that the crash resulted from engineering failures rather than any pilot error.

The Srivaddhanaprabha family expressed gratitude to Senior Coroner Mason for conducting the inquest and to the Leicester community for their continued support following the devastating loss of their patriarch.

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