Preliminary Reports
King Air Damaged in Gear-Up Landing
Beechcraft King Air 200, May 16, 2015, Carlsbad, Calif.–The commercial pilot and sole occupant of the aircraft was not injured when he landed at McClellan-Palomar Airport at 3:48 p.m. with the gear still retracted. The wings of the aircraft were substantially damaged. The Part 91 flight had departed Palm Springs, Calif., in VFR conditions at about 3:15 p.m., destined for Santa Ana. The pilot reported experiencing a loss of electrical power about 10 minutes later and headed westbound VFR, on top of the clouds, until reaching the coastline. He then headed south toward Carlsbad with limited radio communications. After receiving a green light from the tower controller, he proceeded inbound and did not realize the landing gear was retracted until it was too late.
LongRanger Experiences Mechanical Failure on Takeoff in New York
Bell 206L-3, Kearny, N.J., May 20, 2015–The helicopter was substantially damaged during a hard landing following loss of control in the hover moments after takeoff from the Helo Kearny Heliport. The sole-occupant pilot was not injured. He said he entered a 20-foot hover before departure from the helipad to contact ATC for clearance into the overlying airspace. But before he could speak, the helicopter began yawing to the right.
The pilot attempted to correct the rotation with left pedal input, but the helicopter spun three complete revolutions to the right. The pilot rolled off the power and raised the collective before the helicopter landed hard on the helipad, still yawing to the right. During the landing, the tail rotor contacted the ground and the main rotor hit the tailboom. Subsequent examination revealed a section of the tail-rotor driveshaft had separated as well as damage to the tailboom, tail-rotor blades, left vertical fin and vertical stabilizer.
The helicopter was registered to Meridian Helicopters and operated by New York Helicopter. Maintenance records revealed the operator had recently leased the helicopter, but that the machine had previously experienced a hard landing in Chile. The helicopter had been operated for about 16 hours following both an annual and a hard-landing inspection before the accident.
All Aboard Metro Perish in Takeoff Accident
Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II, near Querétaro Airport, Mexico, June 2, 2015–The Metro had just departed the airport on a post-maintenance test flight when it crashed on to a highway and burst into flames about seven miles southwest of Mexico City. All five people on board the aircraft died in the accident.
AStar Crash in Nepal Claims Four
Airbus AS350B3, Sindhupalchowk district, Nepal, June 2, 2015–All four people aboard the helicopter were killed when it crashed during a UN humanitarian relief mission. The aircraft was destroyed in a post-crash fire, and the accident is under investigation.
Learjet Ground Loops on Landing
Learjet 35, Newport News, Va., May 12, 2015–The aircraft, operated by Phoenix Air Group, experienced a runway excursion and subsequent ground loop while landing at Williamsburg International Airport for as yet undetermined reasons. No injuries to the two-person crew were reported.
Irish Puma Crashes During Training
Aérospatiale SA330J Puma, Pristina Airport, Kosovo, May 11, 2015–The Irish civilian-registered helicopter, on charter to the Eulex security mission in Kosovo, crashed at Pristina Airport on a training exercise during which the pilots were simulating engine failure after passing the landing decision point. After a firm touchdown the helicopter bounced, then touched down again, veered off and tipped over on its right side and was substantially damaged. Of the five people aboard, one medic was injured. The Puma’s tailboom was severed during the accident.
Helicopter Crashes During Powerline Inspection
MD 500, Bocognano, Corse, France, May 18, 2015–The helicopter, owned and operated by Visimind/Heliwest Finland, was on a powerline cleaning and inspection mission for French power company EDF at approximately 9:30 a.m. when it crashed for reasons as yet unknown. The left skid collapsed during the accident although EDF said the helicopter did not touch the powerlines during the flight. Both crewmembers aboard suffered uncategorized injuries.
G550 Runway Excursion
Gulfstream G550, Male International Airport, Maldives, May 9, 2015–The crew of the privately owned jet reported technical difficulties and asked to return to Male, from where the aircraft had departed. During landing, the aircraft skidded off the runway and sustained minor damage. The number of people on board was not reported, and no one was injured.
Huey Crashes During Logging Operation
Bell UH-1B, Near Pierre Lake Orient, Wash., May 7, 2015–The sole-occupant pilot sustained minor injuries and the helicopter was destroyed when it crashed on a wooded hillside during logging operations at 5:15 p.m. The helicopter was owned and operated by R & R Conner Aviation.
Final Reports
Ag Helicopter Flew Into Terrain
Bell OH-58C, New Athens, Ill.. May 12, 2011–The NTSB determined that the helicopter crashed into terrain because the pilot failed to attain sufficient altitude to clear the hills while maneuvering. The helicopter, operating under Part 137, was assigned to spray a wheat field in an area of rolling hills.
Witnesses reported the aircraft had just lifted off from a support truck for another spraying circuit when the support truck workers heard a noise and looked in the direction of the helicopter. They saw the helicopter rotating without its tailboom attached. The main wreckage was located about 250 feet beyond a point where a number of the helicopter’s spray nozzles were found. The tail rotor and the aft section of the tailboom were found between the spray nozzles and the main wreckage. The post-crash investigation revealed evidence a main rotor blade had struck the tailboom, severing it from the helicopter.
Based on the available information, investigators concluded it is likely the pilot inadvertently flew the helicopter into the rising terrain, which caused the main rotor blades to flex downward and sever the tailboom. The loss of the tailboom left the pilot with no anti-torque control and hence no way to prevent the helicopter from rotating uncontrollably. The pilot died in the accident.
King Air Damaged In Severe Turbulence
Beechcraft King Air C90, Camden, S.C., May 27, 2011–The pilot’s decision to proceed toward an area of bad weather when better routes were available was the cause of an encounter with severe turbulence that left the Part 91 turboprop substantially damaged, according to the Safety Board. None of the five people on board was injured.
The pilot reported intermittent periods of light turbulence during the climb-out from Charleston, S.C. (CHS). About 100 miles northwest of CHS, the turboprop’s radar showed an area of weather ahead that prompted the pilot to asked for a turn 45 degrees left for avoidance. Because of traffic, ATC would approve only 30 degrees. The pilot accepted but soon realized he would need to deviate by at least 30 to 45 degrees and attempted to make that request. Other aircraft on frequency apparently blocked the pilot’s transmissions and the turn approval was never received. Despite the pilot making the turn he sought, the aircraft encountered severe weather for approximately two minutes. The pilot said the aircraft performed normally and landed normally after the encounter.
Post-flight examination determined the King Air’s wing spar had been substantially damaged by the weather encounter. The NTSB also said that because the aircraft carried significant weather-detection technology, the pilot was likely aware of the areas of significant weather long before he reached them, as well as the less significant weather to the northeast and south. He was also aware of the clear weather through which he had just flown. The investigation determined that some of the pilot’s radio calls were blocked by other aircraft on the frequency, but also by the controller himself performing his normal separation duties.
G200 Landing Gear Collapsed on Touchdown
Gulfstream G200, Newburgh, N.Y., May 27, 2011–The NTSB cited the flight crew as the major cause of an accident that caused the right main landing gear of the aircraft to collapse on arrival. None of the three people aboard the aircraft was injured.
The aircraft, owned and operated by a fractional provider, was being operated under Part 91. Before the incident flight, the flight crew completed an uneventful repositioning flight. During the incident flight, while on a visual approach to Westchester County Airport, the second-in-command attempted to lower the landing gear, but the system did not show three down and locked. The crew entered a holding pattern and began the landing gear down lock indication failure checklist, but failed to complete it before they were distracted by a hydraulic overheat condition on which they focused their attention. When the SIC returned to the down lock failure checklist, hydraulic pressure was too low for the gear to cycle. The crew then performed the emergency gear extension checklist and headed to Stewart, where the runway is longer. While all three gear extended, only the nosegear indicated locked. The right main landing gear collapsed on touchdown, but the crew was able to keep the aircraft on the runway.
During post-accident examination, the landing-gear handle was found one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch short of the full down position. When the landing-gear selector handle was positioned full up, followed by full down during a test, the gear cycled successfully, indicating that, had the flight crew placed the handle in the full down position, the landing gear would likely have operated normally. When the landing-gear selector handle was positioned where it was found, the landing gear extended, but did not lock.
The inspection also showed a hydraulic bypass had occurred, with a resulting rise in hydraulic fluid temperature and a fall in hydraulic fluid pressure. The hydraulic bypass was most likely the reason that the landing gear did not lock when the emergency gear extension procedure was followed. Although the rigging of the landing gear selector valve arm was found to be two degrees outside specifications, the fact that the landing gear was successfully cycled numerous times with this discrepancy indicated to the Board that it was not a contributing factor to this incident.
After the incident, the airplane manufacturer revised several checklists by replacing the terms “normal” and “low” with numerical values. Additionally, the landing gear down lock indication failure and the emergency landing gear extension checklists were revised to provide more guidance for ensuring the landing gear handle is positioned full down. Lastly, the emergency landing gear extension checklist was expanded to include failure of the blow-down procedure to extend and lock all three landing gear.