Individually Owned: 151,491
Corporate Owned: 139,368
Laredo International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Laredo, Texas 78041
Thursday, April 3, 1997 18:30 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was in the process of purchasing the helicopter from a business located at the airport. After a successful acceptance flight earlier that morning, the pilot landed the helicopter on the ramp, shut down, and finalized the deal. He had driven a trailer to the airport to transport the helicopter back to Louisiana after the purchase. The pilot stated that he descended slowly down to the trailer platform, positioning the left skid as close to the left rail as possible. Upon touch down, the helicopter slid about 1 inch to the right, but the left skid looked square to the left rail. As the pilot lowered the collective, he felt the helicopter drifting to the right skid and applied power and left lateral cyclic to arrest the drift. Subsequently, the craft banked sharply to the left and the rotor blades struck the ground. As the helicopter rolled to the left, the tail boom was severed. According to the pilot, this was the first time that he had landed on a stationary trailer. A FAA inspector reported that the width of the trailer was about 4 inches wider than the helicopter's landing skids.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain alignment while landing on a stationary trailer. A factor was the pilot's lack of experience in trailer landing operations.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/3/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1830 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | LAREDO |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 78041 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | LAREDO INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LRD |
| 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 | 627 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1847 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LRD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 627 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 62 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 3 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2238 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N90485 |
| NTSB Number | FTW97LA150 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | BH-47G2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | BH-47G2 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 696 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2450 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2 |
| Airframe Hours | 11082 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | LOUIS MCCARTHY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 80154 MAE FUSSELL |
| Aircraft Owner City | COVINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 70435 |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LRD |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1830 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | LRD |
| 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 | -- |