Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Bluefield/Mercer County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bluefield, West Virginia 24701
Thursday, November 27, 1997 14:30 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On a local flight to 'balance and adjust the flight controls,' the pilot took off down wind and climbed to 50 feet agl. He stated that 'after passing through transitional lift, the rotor began to over speed, so I reduced the throttle.' As he approached the end of the runway, the pilot 'slowed the helicopter down and started a left turn to fly down the runway to check the head balance.' As the pilot started the turn, he stated that 'I increased the throttle to the maximum, however, the rotor rpm had begun to deteriorate and the throttle would not bring it back up.' With insufficient altitude to recover, the helicopter impacted the ground collapsing the left skid, and rolled onto its side damaging the main rotor, tail boom, tail rotor, and the cockpit. The pilot stated that he had thousands of hours in turbine engine powered helicopters, but, was not familiar with reciprocating engine powered helicopters. The pilot had accumulated less than 10 hours in this helicopter.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Pilot's unfamiliarity with reciprocating engine powered helicopter lead to a reduction in main rotor rpm and subsequent uncontrolled rate of descent with insufficient altitude to recover.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/27/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1430 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | BLUEFIELD |
| Event State | WEST VIRGINIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 24701 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | BLUEFIELD/MERCER COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BLF |
| 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 | 2857 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1445 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BLF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2857 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| 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) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| 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 | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1921 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 2 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1300 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8015E |
| NTSB Number | IAD98LA014 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Jones |
| Aircraft Model | MINI 500 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MINI 500 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 300 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 840 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 17 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 10 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HAROLD E. JONES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 41 HILLCREST DR |
| Aircraft Owner City | PRINCETON |
| Aircraft Owner State | WV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 24740 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | BLF |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1420 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| 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 | Takeoff |
| 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 | 23 |
| Runway Length | 4742 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |