Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Barstow Dagget Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Barstow, California 92327
Monday, February 14, 1994 18:02 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot intended to do several autorotations at the end of his daily flights to verify a new clutch assembly which was installed on the helicopter that morning. The pilot said that it was twilight, but that he could clearly see the runway lights when he lifted off to do the autorotations. The pilot made one successful autorotation and decided on a second one to check the main rotor rpm. The pilot said that during the second one the main rotor rpm was low, but he did not get a low rotor warning horn or light. The pilot said that during the descent he was trying to bring the main rotor rpm up by varying his airspeed until the flare point. Witnesses reported that the helicopter began a flare about 50 feet above the runway, then landed hard. The helicopter became airborne again, began to spin, and then landed hard, rolling onto its left side. No evidence of mechanical failure was found during an examination of the helicopter. Sunset occurred at 1733 and the end of civil twilight was at 1759. The accident was at 1802.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's misjudgment of the landing flare altitude during a night autorotation while preoccupied with maintaining proper main rotor rpm. A factor in the accident was the pilot's visual perception which was affected by the outside ambient lighting conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/14/1994 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1802 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | BARSTOW |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92327 |
| Event Date Year | 1994 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | BARSTOW DAGGET |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | DAG |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1927 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1803 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DAG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1927 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1099 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 15 1994 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 830 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2000 10:41AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1077N |
| NTSB Number | LAX94LA126 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | 206L-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 206L-1 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 45349 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4150 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 22 1994 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 36 |
| Airframe Hours | 4826 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ASPEN HELICOPTERS INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2899 W. FIFTH STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | OXNARD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93030 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | IGAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1755 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 4 |
| Runway Length | 5119 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |