Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sanford, Florida 32771
Saturday, July 9, 1994 12:50 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE HELICOPTER WAS IN A 15 FOOT HOVER WHEN IT BEGAN TO SPIN TO THE RIGHT AND DESCEND. THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO CONTROL THE HELICOPTER AND IT CRASHED INTO THE WATER. A WITNESS ON THE GROUND OBSERVED THE TAILROTOR SLOW DOWN JUST PRIOR TO THE HELICOPTER STARTING TO SPIN TO THE RIGHT. EXAMINATION OF THE HELICOPTER AFTER THE ACCIDENT INDICATED THE TAILROTOR DRIVESHAFT WAS SEPARATED AT THE LAST COUPLING PRIOR TO THE TAILROTOR GEARBOX. THE TAILROTOR GEARBOX WAS FREE TO TURN AND ONE TAILROTOR BLADE WAS BENT AT A 90 DEGREE ANGLE. THE OTHER TAILROTOR BLADE WAS NOT DAMAGED. METALLURGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE SEPARATED TAILROTOR DRIVESHAFT INDICATED IT SEPARATED DUE TO TORSIONAL OVERSTRESS IN THE NORMAL DIRECTION OF ROTATION. THE DRIVESHAFT HAD ACCUMULATED 887 TOTAL HOURS SINCE IT WAS INSTALLED NEW IN JUNE 1992. THE HELICOPTER HAD BEEN SUBJECTED TO AN OVERSPEED AND TWO GROUND DAMAGE OCCURRENCES TO THE TAIL STABILIZERS IN THE LAST 150 FLIGHT HOURS.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
THE FAILURE OF THE TAILROTOR DRIVESHAFT FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS RESULTING IN LOSS OF TAILROTOR DRIVE. THIS RESULTED IN THE HELICOPTER SPINNING UNCONTROLLED AND DESCENDING FROM A HOVER UNTIL IT CRASHED IN THE WATER.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/9/1994 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1250 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | SANFORD |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32771 |
| Event Date Year | 1994 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1300 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SFD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 57 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1500 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 353 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 9 1994 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1345 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2000 11:44AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N22431 |
| NTSB Number | MIA94LA176 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ROBINSON |
| Aircraft Model | R-22 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | R-22 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0494 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1370 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 28 1994 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 60 |
| Airframe Hours | 2884 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PALM BEACH HELICOPTERS INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 14683 |
| Aircraft Owner City | PLM BCH GARDENS |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33408 |
| 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 | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| 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) | Aerial Observation |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1240 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| 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 | Hover |
| 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 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |