Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Magdalena, New Mexico 87825
Thursday, January 15, 1998 15:30 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was being used in the Federal Government's predator control program. The pilot said he and his passenger were flying north and entered a draw. The prey they were chasing (a coyote) turned east and they flew over it at low airspeed and altitude. The pilot was having 'trouble maintaining rotor rpm.' With higher terrain in front and to his left, he elected to turn east in hopes of exiting the draw to the south. Trees and rough terrain forced him to continue eastward. The pilot found himself below a draw and he pulled collective control. This aggravated the low rpm condition, but the helicopter cleared the rim. On the other side of the rim, the ground sloped down at a 40 degree angle and the pilot tried to stretch his descent towards flatter terrain in an attempt to make a run-on landing. The helicopter impacted the terrain and was substantially damaged. The FAA inspector who went to the scene wrote, 'There is no apparent reason for the helicopter to have lost rpm. Review of the pilot records indicate only 14 hours of flight time in the last 90 days and no training in the last three years, and the last biennial flight review was almost 20 months ago.'
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate main rotor rpm. A factor was a lack of recent experience in the type of operation being performed.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/15/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1530 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | MAGDALENA |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 87825 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| 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 | 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 | Scattered |
| 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) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 12 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1425 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 16 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 659 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2001 1:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7901S |
| NTSB Number | FTW98TA099 |
| 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 | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 47G-3B-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 47G-3B-1 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 6576 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2950 |
| 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 | Jan 4 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 3293 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DESERT EAGLE HELICOPTERS INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1602 24TH ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | ALAMAGORDO |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 88310 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | MAGDALENA |
| Departure State | NM |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1430 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| 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 | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2001 1:55PM |
| 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 | -- |