Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Glennallen, Alaska 99588
Sunday, September 10, 1995 15:45 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot and passenger of a Bell 206B helicopter, N84TA, overheard radio transmissions about a float equipped Cessna 180A, N94259, that had become inverted on a lake. The helicopter pilot and passenger attempted a rescue of the stranded pilot, who had been sitting on the inverted floats of the airplane for about 5 hours and displayed symptoms of severe hypothermia and shock. A 30 knot wind was producing 3 to 4 feet waves. As the helicopter was hovered next to the airplane, the passenger partially stepped into an external load basket on the right side of the helicopter and began to assist the stranded pilot aboard the helicopter. At about that time, the helicopter began to roll to the right, and the main rotor blades struck the surface of the lake. The helicopter then impacted the lake and sank. The stranded pilot was struck by the helicopter's landing gear skid tube during the crash and received a serious chest injury. The pilot of a third aircraft (float equipped Beaver) observed the events and landed on the lake to rescue all of the participants. (See: ID Number ANC95LA164 for the initial accident involving the Cessna 180.)
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper in-flight planing/decision and inadequate supervision of the passenger, which allowed the helicopter's lateral center-of-gravity to be exceeded. Factors relating to the accident were: pressure (compelling influence) on the pilot and passenger that was induced by the need to rescue the stranded pilot from a life threatening situation, high winds, and large waves.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/10/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1545 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | GLENNALLEN |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99588 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| 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 | 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 | 5500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 30 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 30 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1655 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 10 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1705 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N84TA |
| NTSB Number | ANC95TA166 |
| 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 | 206B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 206B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 594 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 6 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 8118 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TRANS-ALASKA HELICOPTERS INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 819 ORCA ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | ANCHORAGE |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99501 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | U.S. DEPT. OF INTERIOR |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. BOX 15428 |
| Operator City | BOISE |
| Operator State | ID |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 83715 |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | GKN |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1520 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| 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 | -- |