Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Lampson Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lakeport, California 95453
Tuesady, April 11, 1995 10:48 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE STUDENT WAS DOING TAKEOFFS AND LANDINGS IN THE TRAFFIC PATTERN WHEN THE LOW ROTOR RPM WARNING HORN ACTIVATED. THE STUDENT WAS UNSUCCESSFUL IN EXTINGUISHING THE WARNING HORN BY THROTTLE AND COLLECTIVE MANIPULATION AND ENTERED AN AUTOROTATION. THE STUDENT DID NOT VERIFY THE MAIN ROTOR RPM BY THE ROTOR TACHOMETER. DURING THE TOUCHDOWN, ABOUT 1/4-MILE SOUTHEAST OF THE AIRPORT IN A SOFT FIELD, THE SKIDS DUG INTO SOFT SOIL AND THE HELICOPTER ROLLED OVER. A FAA INSPECTOR EXAMINED THE AIRCRAFT AND ENGINE, WHICH INCLUDED AN ENGINE START AND STATIC RUN-UP. THE ENGINE STARTED NORMALLY AND WAS EXERCISED THROUGHOUT ITS NORMAL POWER RANGE. MAINTENANCE RECORDS REVEALED A HISTORY OF FALSE LOW ROTOR RPM WARNING HORN ACTIVATIONS IN THE HELICOPTER DATING BACK 9 MONTHS. AFTER PILOTS WOULD REPORT THE WARNING HORN DISCREPANCY TO MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL, A SYSTEM COMPONENT WOULD BE CHANGED AND THE HELICOPTER RETURNED TO SERVICE; HOWEVER, THE PROBLEM PERSISTED. THE CFI'S SAID THEY TRAINED THE STUDENTS, INCLUDING THE ACCIDENT PILOT, HOW TO COPE WITH THE NUISANCE WARNING.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the student's misjudged landing flare and his failure to verify the validity of the low rotor warning. Factors in the accident were the company management's continued use of the helicopter in flight training operations with a known discrepancy in the main rotor warning system, and the soft nature of the soil at the autorotation landing area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/11/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1048 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | LAKEPORT |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95453 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | LAMPSON FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 102 |
| 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 | 1378 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Broken |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 50 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| 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 | 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 405 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 11 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1233 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:12PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4015Y |
| NTSB Number | LAX95LA158 |
| 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-22B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | R-22B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1427 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2400 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 30 1994 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | OSK DEVELOPMENT, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 6885 HIGHWAY 53 |
| Aircraft Owner City | CLEARLAKE |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95422 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | RESORT AVIATION |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4615 HIGHLAND SPRINGS ROAD |
| Operator City | LAKEPORT |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 95453 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1015 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 | Emergency 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 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |