Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
New Iberia, Louisiana 70560
Thursday, July 3, 1997 14:45 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After loading the external basket with seismic wire bundles weighing about 300 to 400 pounds, the pilot flew the external load attached to a 100 foot long-line cable to the staging field. He made an approach to the landing area into the wind, and placed the basket on the ground; however, he did not release it. He moved the helicopter to the left side of the basket and then descended laterally to the left approximately 20 feet to a hover height of about 10 feet. As he hovered the helicopter forward about 10 to 15 feet, he felt a jolt. The helicopter nosed down to the left and came to rest on its right side. The company's procedure for repositioning the helicopter to land with an external load attached was that 'the cable must remain in visual contact with the pilot at all times.' The pilot was to 'lay the cable out in front of or to the side of the pilot position in full view of the pilot.' The pilot successfully completed a Part 133 evaluation on 6/18/97. At the time of employment, the pilot had 42 hours of experience in long-line external load operations. Since then, he had accumulated approximately 25 flight hours of additional experience.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's improper in-flight planning/decision. A related factor was his failure to follow the company procedure of maintaining visual contact with the external long-line cable, while hovering with it attached.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/3/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1445 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | NEW IBERIA |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 70560 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| 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 | 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 45 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| 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 | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 964 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 3 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1530 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N49661 |
| NTSB Number | FTW97LA252 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 206B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 206B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1826 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 9 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 23 |
| Airframe Hours | 14426 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | OMNI GEOPHYSICAL, LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4484 INTERSTATE 49 NORTH |
| Aircraft Owner City | LAFAYETTE |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 70520 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | AMERICAN AVIATION, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 301 SHEPHERD |
| Operator City | LAFAYETTE |
| Operator State | LA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 70503 |
| Operator Code | AO5L |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Unknown |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Unknown |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| 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 | -- |