Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Livermore, California 94550
Sunday, September 10, 1995 11:23 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was being used to give 5-minute for-hire sightseeing rides to airshow patrons. The pilot transmitted over the local control frequency that he had a power failure and was going down. Another airborne helicopter pilot saw the helicopter about 300 feet above ground in a nose-high attitude and yawing to the right as it descended vertically. The witness said the yaw continued during the descent until it was slightly nose low at ground impact. Responding fire department units did not find fuel leaks in the tanks or lines. FAA inspectors found the fuel system intact with no evidence of tank or line rupture. About 1 pint of fuel was drained from each of the fuel tanks during recovery of the helicopter. The operator said a computed tabulation system was used to keep track of the fuel onboard the helicopter. On paper estimated fuel usage was subtracted from the amount believed onboard and fuel added during the day was added to the total. No calibrated dipstick was used to determine the amount of fuel in the tanks. All three main rotor blades were found coned upwards. The tail rotor blades were not damaged. The engine was put in a production test cell and ran normally. Tests of the fuel gage showed it read accurately at zero. As the amount of fuel was increased, a progressively higher error was noted. At 1/4 system capacity, the gage read twice the amount it should.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadequate preflight fuel load determination procedures which resulted in fuel exhaustion. In addition, the pilot's delayed and improper use of the collective and cyclic flight controls following the engine failure led to his failure to maintain airspeed and main rotor rpm. The inaccuracy of the fuel indicating system was a factor in the accident.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/10/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1123 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | LIVERMORE |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94550 |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1125 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 10 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LVK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 397 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| 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 | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1684 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 10 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1240 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5689T |
| NTSB Number | LAX95LA332 |
| 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 | ENSTROM |
| Aircraft Model | F-28C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | F-28C |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 474-2 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2350 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 6 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 132 |
| Airframe Hours | 1412 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | RODGER L. AINSWORTH |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 344 |
| Aircraft Owner City | SAN ANDREAS |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95249 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | CALAVERAS AVIATION |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. BOX 1450 |
| Operator City | SAN ANDREAS |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 95249 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LVK |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1120 |
| 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 | Cruise |
| 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 | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |