Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sour Lake, Texas 77659
Saturday, July 17, 1999 16:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter lost engine power during takeoff due to contaminated fuel. The commercial helicopter pilot stated that the night before the accident flight, the fueling truck, which contained three tanks (one each for water, chemicals, and fuel), was checked. The pilot stated that the fuel appeared 'normal' that night. The following day, prior to the accident flight, the helicopter was 'refueled without sumping the tanks.' The pilot added that during takeoff, the engine lost power about 50 feet above the ground, at 30 miles per hour. He executed an autorotation to the ground where the main rotor blades impacted the tail boom and the tail rotor blades contacted the ground. The pilot stated that he found 20 gallons of water in the helicopter's fuel tank after the accident. He added that he discovered the fuel truck had a crack in between the water and fuel tanks. Approximately 80 gallons of water had leaked into the truck's fuel tank. The fuel truck was 'supposed to have an aqua stop filter installed that will not pump if water is present but the wrong filter was installed.'
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to adequately preflight the helicopter's fuel system resulting in the total loss of engine power as a result of water contamination. Factors were the incorrect filter installed on the fueling truck and the pilot's improper touchdown technique.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/17/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1630 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | SOUR LAKE |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 77659 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 122 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BPT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 16 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 22 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| 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) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 24 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 140 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 868 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 20 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1300 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 10 2001 10:01AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4002G |
| NTSB Number | FTW99TA194 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| 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 | 6529 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 20 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 155 |
| Airframe Hours | 10013 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PRECISION AIR SERVICES, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | HANGAR 209, CRAIG FIELD |
| Aircraft Owner City | SELMA |
| Aircraft Owner State | AL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 36701 |
| 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 | ZIOG |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1629 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| 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 | Jan 10 2001 12:27PM |
| 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 | -- |