Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Friday, September 10, 1999 14:45 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial helicopter pilot, with one passenger aboard, was conducting a search for an overdue company helicopter. While searching the upper portion of a glacial ice field, deteriorating weather conditions required the pilot to alter his search route. He said that he slowed the helicopter to 15 knots and attempted to use a mountain range on the right side of the helicopter for visual reference. He said: 'Visibility in front was enough to see all the way to the top of the Herbert (greater than three miles). The ceiling sloped down to the east 45 degrees with a height at the ridge of approximately 700 feet.' The pilot added that just seconds before the impact, he thought the helicopter was at least 500 feet above the surface. He said that 'flat light conditions' made it very difficult to see the topographical features of the ice field below. The helicopter struck the snow-covered ice field, slid about 75 feet, and the helicopter rolled over to the right. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, tail boom, and rotor system. After the accident, the pilot radioed for another company helicopter to pick them up. A second company helicopter, N6099Y, landed at the accident site, boarded the uninjured pilot and passenger, and continued the search. During the search, N6099Y also collided with the snow-covered ice field. See ANC99FA139, and ANC99LA141. The accident pilot did not possess an instrument rating, and the helicopter was not equipped with a radar altimeter.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain altitude/clearance. Factors associated with the accident were flat light conditions, snow-covered terrain, and self-induced pressure to continue the search.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/10/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1445 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | JUNEAU |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99801 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| 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 | Full |
| 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 | 700 |
| 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) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1471 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 10 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1650 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2000 11:54AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6052C |
| NTSB Number | ANC99LA140 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Eurocopter |
| Aircraft Model | AS-350B-2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | AS-350B-2 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2586 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4461 |
| 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 | Sep 5 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 18 |
| Airframe Hours | 3727 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TEMSCO HELICOPTERS, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 5057 |
| Aircraft Owner City | JUNEAU |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99901 |
| 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 | HXSA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | External Load |
| 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) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | JNU |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1345 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| 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 | Jan 2 2001 10:35AM |
| 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 | -- |