Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cameron, Louisiana 70606
Thursday, October 10, 1996 4:47 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The twin-engine helicopter departed a field base during the early morning into the dark night to reposition the aircraft to a full service facility for maintenance. No radio/distress calls were received from the helicopter after the pilot called in his flight plan. The wreckage was found severely fragmented along a 300-foot long energy path located in coastal marshland approximately 4 nautical miles north of the field base. Detailed examination of the aircraft, engines, and drive components did not reveal pre-impact anomalies that would have contributed to the accident, and there was no evidence of an in-flight breakup or in-flight collision with an object. The pilot had over 11,200 hours of helicopter time, of which 316 were at night and 446 were under actual or simulated instrument conditions. The flight was conducted during the 11th and 12th hours of the pilot's 12-hour duty shift, which was his first night back from a two-week vacation during which he had been sleeping nights.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain clearance with terrain for undetermined reasons. Contributing factors were the dark night and pilot fatigue.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/10/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 447 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | CAMERON |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 70606 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| 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 | Witness |
| 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 | 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10077 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 10 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 730 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 17 2001 8:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N299EH |
| NTSB Number | FTW97FA014 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Mbb |
| Aircraft Model | BO-105 CBS-4 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | BO-105 CBS |
| Aircraft Serial Number | S-807 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5512 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 8 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 7 |
| Airframe Hours | 4546 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ERA AVIATION INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 6160 CARL BRADY DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | ANCHORAGE |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99502 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | ERA, GULF COAST DIVISION |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | PO BOX 6550 |
| Operator City | LAKE CHARLES |
| Operator State | LA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 70606 |
| Operator Code | |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | K7R5 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 443 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | LCH |
| Destination City | LAKE CHARLES |
| Destination State | LA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 9 2001 4:02AM |
| 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 | -- |