Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Canby, Oregon 97013
Friday, October 4, 1996 12:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Boeing Model BV-107-II departed on a maintenance check flight with 1.4 hrs total flight time after conversion from a Model HKP-4 per FAA Project #TDO639NY-R. About 37 min later, witnesses saw the rotorcraft moving erratically & tumbling out of control. Postcrash exam of the rotorcraft's flight control system revealed a disconnect between the lower bearing end of the aft directional and lateral control pushrod & the inboard clevis of the forward mixing unit section bellcrank. A bolt, consistent with hardware for that connection, was found in the control closet area. An improper part (collective bellcrank, PN 107C2606-8) was found in place of the required lateral bellcrank (PN 107C2606-9). Clevis width of the -8 part was slightly larger than the -9 part; thus, the clevis bolt was not long enough to allow a cotter pin to be properly installed through the nut & bolt with the required washers (2 thick & 1 thin) installed. To compensate (allow for installation of the cotter pin), 2 thin washers were used in place of the 2 thick and 1 thin washers. Metallurgical exam of the bolt revealed evidence that a nut had been applied to the threaded end, but there was no evidence that a cotter pin had been inserted. No pre-accident engine malfunction or crew impairment was evident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of maintenance personnel to install a cotter pin in a clevis bolt in the flight control system, which resulted in the aft directional and lateral control output pushrod to become disconnected from a bellcrank in the forward portion of the first stage mixing unit. A factor relating to the accident was the use of an improper bellcrank, which was wider in the clevis area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/4/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1215 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | CANBY |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97013 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1247 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 279 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | UAO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 196 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4500 |
| 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) | 40 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 18 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1809 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 4 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1254 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 10:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N196CH |
| NTSB Number | SEA97FA001 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BOEING VERTOL |
| Aircraft Model | BV-107 II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | BV-107 II |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 407 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 20000 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 2 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2 |
| Airframe Hours | 7075 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | COLUMBIA HELICOPTERS, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO BOX 3500 |
| Aircraft Owner City | PORTLAND |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97208 |
| 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 | CHIL |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | External Load |
| 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) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 3S2 |
| Departure City | AURORA |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1138 |
| 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 | Descent - uncontrolled |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| 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 | -- |