Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Highland, California 92346
Sunday, July 6, 1997 17:03 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was conducting water dropping operations as part of an ongoing forest fire fighting effort. A firefighter reported that the helicopter made two water drops before the accident. A battalion fire chief, who was directing the effort, reported that he saw the helicopter making water drops on a slope. After a water drop which involved an abrupt pull up and turn after the water was released from the bucket, he reported hearing the words 'May Day,' 'I have a flame out' and finally 'I'm going down'. Several other people who were monitoring the common frequency also reported hearing a transmission with the phrase 'flame out.' The helicopter impacted the bottom of the canyon. An inspection revealed that the lines from the engine fuel nozzle to the fuel control and the airframe fuel filter contained fuel. The lines and in-line filters contained both fuel and particulate matter in the bottom of both filter housings. Testing revealed that the manifold check valve leaked from both inlet ports. When the valves were disassembled additional foreign material was found. The material was found to be a combination of organic and inorganic materials. A 5-gallon fuel sample was taken from the refueling truck on the day of the accident. The analytical report stated that the sample submitted was that of aviation turbine fuel. No contamination was noted. According to historical records, there have been a series of engine flameout related accidents and incidents related to this engine make and model. Controlled tests have demonstrated that should entrapped air migrate through the fuel system to the engine, an engine flame out can occur.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Loss of engine power due to fuel contamination. Also causal was the ingestion of entrapped air that occurred during an abrupt maneuver and fuel-borne contamination that caused the fuel system check valves to leak, resulted in a lower than expected fuel level in the main fuel cell. A related factor was mountainous terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/6/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1703 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | HIGHLAND |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92346 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1650 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 238 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ONT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 943 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 23 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 16 |
| 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 | 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) | 1826 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 6 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1806 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:25PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N27591 |
| NTSB Number | LAX97GA235 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | BHT-206L-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | BHT-206L-1 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 45273 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4250 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 26 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 39 |
| Airframe Hours | 7705 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ROGERS HELICOPTERS, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5484 EAST PERIMETER ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | FRESNO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93727 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | USDA FOREST SERVICE |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 630 SANSOME STREET |
| Operator City | SAN FRANSISCO |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 94111 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Unknown |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Unknown |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1630 |
| 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 | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 22 2001 3:26PM |
| 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 | -- |