Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lost Hills, California 93249
Wednesday, May 31, 1995 23:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
ON A DARK MOONLESS NIGHT, THE FLIGHT WAS GOING TO A SPARSELY POPULATED AREA WITHOUT GROUND REFERENCE LIGHTS TO PICKUP A MEDICAL EVACUATION PATIENT. THE RESPONDING FIRE DEPARTMENT TRUCKS PICKED A LANDING SITE AND ILLUMINATED THE AREA WITH TWO FIRE TRUCKS PARKED ADJACENT TO THE INTENDED LANDING SPOT. THE PILOT SAID HE MADE A HIGH RECONNISANACE AND THEN STARTED HIS APPROACH FROM 300 FEET. HE SAID HE BECAME SPATIALLY DISORIENTED AND LOST VISUAL REFERENCE WITH THE GROUND WHILE LOOKING AT HIS INSTRUMENTS TO CORRECT A HIGH RATE OF DESCENT AND LOW AIRSPEED SITUATION. THE HELICOPTER'S NOSE PITCHED DOWN, BUT THE PILOT STABILIZED THE AIRCRAFT JUST BEFORE TOUCHING DOWN HARD. THE AIRCRAFT BOUNCED INTO THE AIR ABOUT 20-30 FEET, ROLLED TO THE LEFT IN AN UNCONTROLLED DESCENT, AND THEN COLLIDED WITH THE GROUND ON ITS LEFT SIDE. THE HELICOPTER SPUN AND ROLLED OVER AND CAME TO REST ON THE RIGHT SIDE. THE PILOT REPORTED NO MECHANICAL FAILURES OR MALFUNCTIONS.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's in-flight loss of control and failure to maintain a proper descent rate due to spatial disorientation and lack of visual cues during a dark, night approach to a unimproved landing zone, and his failure to initiate a go-around when he first lost visual reference with the ground. Factor's in the accident are the dark night lighting conditions and lack of suitable reference lights at the landing zone.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/31/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2300 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | LOST HILLS |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93249 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| 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 | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| 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 | 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 691 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 31 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2344 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5871D |
| NTSB Number | LAX95LA200 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | EUROCOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | AS-355F1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | AS-355F1 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 5038 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5291 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 26 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 7 |
| Airframe Hours | 3943 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ROGER'S HELICOPTERS, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 4 |
| Aircraft Owner City | CLOVIS |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93613 |
| 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 | CUCA |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BFL |
| Departure City | BAKERSFIELD |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2232 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| 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 | Yes |
| Medical Flight | -- |