Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Elko Municipal-J.C. Harri Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Elko, Nevada 89801
Saturday, October 16, 1999 14:10 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While the aircraft was shutting down, the flight engineer exited the aircraft, and gave the pilots the signal that the droop stops had engaged. He then climbed up on a stepladder next to the tail boom as the main rotor continued to coast down to a stop. A minute or so later, the two remaining crewmembers heard a 'thump.' The pilot-in-command (PIC) asked the copilot to go outside and find the source of the noise. When he walked toward the rear of the aircraft he found the flight engineer laying across the top of tail boom with a massive head injury. The main rotor of the Ch-54A is fully articulated. The rotor system employs a series of main rotor blade droop stops. As the rotor rpm slows, centripetal force is reduced and the droop stop springs pull the stops back into ground stop position. During spool down it can take 20 seconds or more for the first through sixth stop to move into the ground stop position. The visual strobe effect, caused by the turning rotor head, can make it appear that all the stops are in place when one or more stops still have not yet been fully repositioned. Winds were gusting up to 14 knots at the time of the shutdown. Gusting winds during shutdown can cause a slow turning rotor blade to suddenly flap down independently of the remaining blades.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the flight engineer's decision to climb a step ladder that put him in close proximity to the still turning main rotor blades. The gusting wind was a factor in the accident.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/16/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1410 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | ELKO |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89801 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | ELKO MUNICIPAL-J.C. HARRI |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EKO |
| 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 | 5140 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1355 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EKO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5140 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 20 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 14 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1867 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 16 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1112 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2001 4:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9125M |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA018 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Sikorsky |
| Aircraft Model | CH-54A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | CH-54A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 68-18455 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 42000 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 14 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 7 |
| Airframe Hours | 3766 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | NEAL SILLER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 1585 |
| Aircraft Owner City | YUBA CITY |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95993 |
| 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 | JSPL |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | YVY |
| Departure City | TOOELE |
| Departure State | UT |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1230 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | O52 |
| Destination City | YUBA CITY |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Standing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2001 4:07AM |
| 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 | -- |