Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Hermiston Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hermiston, Oregon 97838
Monday, August 12, 1996 8:35 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated that he was practicing hovering and turns at an altitude of 10 feet, and was moving forward at about 5 mph, when power to the main rotor was lost due to slippage of the drive belts. He stated that he heard a sound like a rock hitting the fuselage, then the engine rpm increased from its rated rpm of 4,250 to 4,700. During recovery, the pilot pulled collective and used right cyclic to level out and maintain altitude. The helicopter slowed its descent and almost leveled out, but landed on the skids with a slight left drift. The helicopter rolled over after ground contact. The pilot held limited solo privileges for helicopters. He had first soloed a helicopter about three months before the accident and had a total of 17.2 hours of rotorcraft time. He stated that before the accident, he had just flown the helicopter for about one hour, then landed and checked the aircraft for 'tensions etc [sic]' before taking off again. According to operation and maintenance instructions furnished by RotorWay International, the main rotor drive belt tension should be checked and adjusted at new belt installation and at 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, and 10 hours of service (to prevent slippage). The aircraft and engine logbook copies submitted by the pilot contained no documentation of any checks or adjustments to the drive belt tensions after new belt installation on 7/10/96.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
slippage of the drive belts, while hover taxiing in ground effect, which resulted in loss of power to the rotor system; and inadequate remedial action by the pilot, which led to a roll over during touch down (forced landing). A factor relating to the accident was: inadequate maintenance and/or inspection of the drive belts.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/12/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 835 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | HERMISTON |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97838 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | HERMISTON |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | S22 |
| 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 | 641 |
| 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 | 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) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| 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) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1561 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 12 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1358 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 10:18AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6183P |
| NTSB Number | SEA96LA188 |
| 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 | Jonas |
| Aircraft Model | EXEC 90 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | EXEC 90 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1942S |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1425 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 2 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 14 |
| Airframe Hours | 14 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | STEVE W. JONAS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 695 E. MAIN |
| Aircraft Owner City | HERMISTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97838 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | S22 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 735 |
| 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 | 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 | -- |