Preliminary Report: JetRanger Damaged in Hard Landing
Bell 206B, Woodsboro, Texas, Oct. 2, 2014–All three people aboard the helicopter suffered serious injuries during a hard landing that followed a loss of engine power in day VMC. The helicopter, registered to and operated by an individual conducting an aerial observation business under Part 91 as Heartland Helicopters, was substantially damaged as it rolled over.
After taking on 60.1 gallons of jet-A, the helicopter had departed Alfred C. Thomas Airport near Sinton, Texas, 18 miles southwest of the accident site, at about noon, an hour before the accident. The nearest weather station reported variable wind from the south-southeast at 10 knots gusting 21 knots, 10 miles visibility and a few clouds at 1,600 feet.
The pilot told investigators he was flying the helicopter at a height of between 75 and 100 feet agl to conduct a laser examination of a pipeline. He recalled hearing the low rotor rpm horn. He saw wires to his right and structures to his left as the helicopter began to yaw. It completed a half circle before he set it down in the closest clearing, where it subsequently rolled on its right side.
Preliminary Report: Phenom 300 Rolls Off Texas Runway
Embraer Phenom 300, Conroe, Texas, Sept. 19, 2014–The NetJets-operated aircraft was substantially damaged in soft terrain and mud at 8:47 a.m. after overrunning the runway while landing at Lonestar Executive Airport. Neither of the ATP-rated pilots, the only people on board, was injured. IMC prevailed for the Part 91 re-positioning flight, which was operated on an IFR flight plan when it departed Nashville International Airport at 7:10 a.m.
A tower controller who witnessed the accident said the pilots flew the Rnav Runway 1 approach and broke out of the clouds at the minimums with moderate to heavy rain falling at the time. The airplane touched down just past the 1,000-foot marker but did not appear to decelerate, eventually traveling off the departure end of the runway before coming to rest halfway down a ditch.
Preliminary Report: Training Accident Substantially Damages AStar
Airbus AS350B3, Lincoln, Calif., Sept. 4, 2014–The California Highway Patrol was operating the single-turbine helicopter on a VFR public-use training flight when it sustained substantial damage during an early-evening practice autorotation at Lincoln Regional Airport. The flight was operated with a commercial pilot in the right seat who was receiving recurrent emergency procedure and night-vision-goggle (NVG) training, with the instructor in the left seat. Neither pilot was injured.
Before departure, the crew decided to perform a full landing at Lincoln, followed by a practice autorotation with power recovery and then transition into NVG training once ambient light had diminished. Because they departed during daylight the pilot turned off the NVG unit’s battery pack and moved the goggles to the up position on his helmet.
The CFI asked the pilot to make his primary goal in the autorotation attaining the appropriate rotor rpm and airspeed rather than focusing on a specific landing spot. After the CFI rolled the left-side engine throttle to idle the pilot lowered the collective and the helicopter descended. The pilot initiated the flare at about 50 feet, with the CFI countering by rolling the throttle to the flight (vol) position. They heard the engine respond and experienced an accompanying yaw motion, and the CFI announced “power recovery.”
The pilot held the helicopter in the flare and the rotor rpm started to increase, so he pulled up lightly on the collective control to prevent an overspeed. The helicopter “ballooned” slightly and he lowered the collective to recover. The forward speed decayed and he moved the helicopter forward in anticipation of the hover. As he started to raise the collective control, the low rotor speed horn sounded and the helicopter began to descend rapidly. He pulled the collective to arrest the descent but the helicopter hit the ground with enough force to flip his NVGs down over his eyes. Because the goggles were not powered up, he lost all forward vision, but perceived forward and nose-low motion as the CFI took control, and the engine was eventually shut down.
Subsequent examination revealed that the tail boom had bent downwards at its intersection with the aft bulkhead, just below the engine exhaust outlet. The aft bulkhead sustained wrinkling damage, and both aft landing skid support tubes were bent.
Preliminary Report: Huey Door Separates In Flight
Bell UH-1H, San Isidro, Texas, Oct. 23, 2014–None of the three people aboard the helicopter was injured when the left cabin sliding door separated from the aircraft in flight. The helicopter, registered to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for routine Part 91 law-enforcement duties, had departed Brooks County Airport about 15 minutes before the incident for a VFR flight to McAllen, Texas. The crew reported they heard a loud bang and the pilot felt a momentary upset in the helicopter’s flight path as the door separated. Although the helicopter performed normally after the event, the crew elected to perform a precautionary landing in an open field.
During the post-flight inspection, the crew determined that the left-side sliding cabin door had departed the aircraft. It was subsequently located, separated into two pieces, about one mile northeast of the landing site.
Preliminary Report: King Air 300 Accident Claims Two
Beechcraft Super King Air 300LW, Nordelta, Argentina, Sept. 14, 2014–The two pilots died when their King Air struck two houses in the La Isla area of Nordelta. Although the crash set both homes on fire, there were no injuries on the ground. More detail about the circumstances of the accident was not available at the time of writing.
Preliminary Report: Learjet Crashes on Approach in Bahamas
Learjet 35A, near Freeport, Bahamas, Nov. 9, 2014–A chartered N-registered Learjet 35A crashed four miles southwest of Freeport-Grand Bahama International Airport, killing all nine people on board. The aircraft, registered to Diplomat Aviation at a Miami, Fla. address, was conducting an instrument approach to Runway 6 when it struck a crane and crashed in a shipyard. Approach charts indicate two cranes on the approach path extending to 369 feet agl.
Preliminary Report: AStar Substantially Damaged After Power Failure
Airbus Helicopters AS350B2, near Bisbee, Ariz., Oct. 27, 2014–The Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was operating the helicopter as a public-use border-patrol flight in VFR weather when, at 4:04 p.m., the engine lost power at approximately 25 feet agl. The pilot entered an autorotation. The helicopter touched down hard and the tail struck the ground before separating from the fuselage. The pilot, the sole occupant, sustained serious injuries.
Final Report: LongRanger Crashed on Approach to Pad in IMC
Bell 206L-1, Manchester, Ky, June 6, 2013–The LongRanger, owned by Air Evac EMS and operated under Part 91, was on approach to the company-owned helipad at approximately 11:15 p.m. following a patient transfer when it encountered unexpected IMC. The flight originated from St. Joseph-London Heliport in London, Ky., at about 10:59 p.m. The pilot lost control of the helicopter and crashed near a grade-school parking lot. The pilot and the two medical personnel on board were killed.
The NTSB determined the probable cause of the accident to be the pilot’s loss of control induced by spatial disorientation when he inadvertently encountered night IMC, which caused the in-flight separation of the main rotor and tail boom. One eyewitness saw the helicopter, in a nose-down attitude, strike the ground and catch fire.
Witnesses near the accident scene reported visibility of approximately one-quarter mile in patchy fog, although an earlier forecast had prepared the pilot for weather that would have allowed the flight to proceed safely.
The 11:39 p.m. weather observation at London-Corbin Airport-Magee Field (LOZ), about 18 miles west of the accident site, reported calm wind, two-and-a-half miles visibility and scattered clouds at 8,000 feet. Forty minutes earlier, the same station reported six miles visibility. Temperature and dew point were both about 20 degrees C.
A witness recalled seeing the helicopter in a tail-low attitude, then in a more level attitude before the engine noise ceased and the accident happened. The helicopter hit on its right side and in a partially inverted attitude and, according to surveillance video, exploded on impact. The debris field began approximately 300 feet behind the main wreckage and terminated approximately 90 feet past it. The main rotor blades and upper deck of the helicopter came to rest approximately 300 feet in front of and to the east of the impact site. The tail boom aft of the aft bulkhead and tail rotor with the gearbox still attached came to rest about 300 feet to the northeast of the impact location and just beneath a three-phase power line. The power line was not severed.
The cockpit/cabin section sustained thermal damage and came to rest inverted, according to local authorities. The engine was co-located with the cabin section, while the left side instrument panel remained intact and exhibited thermal damage. Examination of the pilot seat revealed extensive thermal damage; however, the seat belt mechanism was located, and was latched with the shoulder harness also secured to the latching mechanism. Examination of the remaining seatbelts indicated that two sets of shoulder harness latches associated with the flight nurse and paramedic seats were unsecured.
The pilot held both rotorcraft and airplane instrument ratings at the time of the accident and was current in the company use of the night-vision goggles with which the helicopter was equipped.
Final Report: King Air Report Cites PIC’s ‘Laissez-faire’ Attitude
Beechcraft King Air 200GT, Juiz da Fora Airport (SBJF), Brazil, July 2012–Brazilian air accident investigation agency Cenipa cited the PIC in the July 2012 crash of a Beechcraft King Air 200GT some 250 miles northeast of São Paulo. The aircraft, owned and operated by Domingos Costa Ind. Alimentícias, was attempting to land in foggy conditions that were reportedly below landing minimums when it struck terrain 800 feet short of the runway and 50 feet below runway elevation, killing all eight people on board.
Investigators cited as contributing factors weather conditions and the pilot-in-command’s “laissez-faire” leadership style, as well as the copilot’s lack of assertiveness. The report indicated that the copilot had exhibited timidity and excessive deference, pointing out that he had far less flight experience than the PIC: 730 hours versus 14,170. Despite the reported weather, the PIC chose a non-precision Rnav (GNSS) approach procedure. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) captured the PIC’s plan to circle until the fog dissipated, but on passing the minimum descent altitude (MDA) the crew did not go around despite not seeing the runway. The CVR recorded the copilot informing the PIC as the aircraft passed four successive altitudes that were below MDA and calling out three EGPWS alerts.