Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Long Beach Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Long Beach, California 90815
Thursday, August 26, 1999 13:33 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that a linesman directed him toward the center one of three transient parking helipads next to a small perimeter fence. All three helipads were empty. As he approached the pad, the pilot became concerned about obstructions and about exposing his tail rotor to a taxiway beyond his view. He performed a left pedal turn over the pad to bring the nose around to face the taxiway. He reported that the linesman made a 'hands-down motion' and walked away. The pilot assumed he was clear to touchdown. As he touched down, the tail rotor contacted the helipad's perimeter fence. The nose of the helicopter yawed left and the pilot performed a hovering autorotation. The tail rotor blades were destroyed and the tail boom was buckled. The distance from the center of the helipad parking space to the fence was measured at 23 feet. The distance from the main rotor mast to the end of the tail stinger on the AS350B3 is just over 23 feet. According to the parking space requirements outlined by FAA A/C 150/5390-2A, the fence was supposed to be no closer than 10 feet to any part of the helicopter. The fence was found to be within the tail rotor clearance area specified in the Advisory Circular. There was insufficient room for the helicopter to make a 180-degree turn, assuming it stayed on the center point of the parking space.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the pilot to maintain clearance with the fence while landing. A factor was the failure of the helipad to meet the obstacle clearance design criteria specified in FAA Advisory Circular guidance.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/26/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1333 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | LONG BEACH |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90815 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | LONG BEACH |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LGB |
| 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 | 57 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2156 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LGB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 57 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| 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) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 100 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| 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 | 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) | 1722 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 26 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1345 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 14 2001 1:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5224R |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA284 |
| 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 | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | AS350B3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | AS350B3 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2968 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4961 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 1 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 13 |
| Airframe Hours | 812 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ROBERT'S AIRCRAFT |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 2403 |
| Aircraft Owner City | ALBANY |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97321 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | AMERICAN EUROCOPTER |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2701 FORUM DRIVE |
| Operator City | GRAND PRAIRIE |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 85222 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | VNY |
| Departure City | VAN NUYS |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1235 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | LGB |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 14 2001 10:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 7R |
| Runway Length | 5420 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |