Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Minden Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Minden, Nevada 89423
Friday, December 3, 1999 14:00 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While hover-taxiing, the pilot experienced a sudden uncommanded right yaw. The aircraft was at a 5-foot hover when it spun 360 degrees (about the mast) to the right. The pilot attempted to stop the turn with full left pedal but the aircraft did not respond. After a full rotation, the lower horizontal stabilizer struck the ground. The aircraft had continued to spin an additional 180 degrees when the pilot rolled off the throttle, applied full up collective, and pressed the right pedal. The aircraft touched down abruptly next to the taxiway. The outboard 11 inches of one tail rotor blade had separated along with the outboard 6 inches from the second blade. Both separated blade sections were recovered with both showing similar leading edge damage near the blade tips. The geometric design of the vertical and horizontal stabilizer acts as a "stinger" or guard for the tail rotor. While there is evidence of ground contact with the lower horizontal stabilizer, it is indicative of lateral contact consistent with damage incurred during a right yaw. The damage to the vertical stabilizer shows evidence of mechanical loading originating from the movement of the lower horizontal stabilizer. The resultant loading produced left to right buckling of the vertical stabilizer just below the tail boom. This damage was also consistent with a right yaw. There was no evidence of contact between the either stabilizer and the tail rotor. The extent of damage to the stabilizers and geometric position of the tail rotor did not support the witness contention of contact between the tail rotor and the ground. The differential loading created by the unequal tail rotor blade separation resulted in an unbalanced system feeding back to the tail rotor gearbox.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the result of a foreign object contacting the tail rotor blade(s) while the aircraft was hover taxiing, which caused blade separation with subsequent loss of anti-torque (lateral) control.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/3/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | MINDEN |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89423 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | MINDEN |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MEV |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1356 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 343 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RNO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4412 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| 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) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.16 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 4970 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| 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) | 11933 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 3 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1500 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 1 2002 11:26AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7183Y |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA050 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Robinson |
| Aircraft Model | R22 MARINER II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | R22 MARINE |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3011M |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1370 |
| 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 | Oct 19 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 24 |
| Airframe Hours | 24 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JAMES L. NIX |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2611 CAMPUS DRIVE, #168 |
| Operator City | KLAMMATH FALLS |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | 97601 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SVE |
| Departure City | SUSANVILLE |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1200 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MEV |
| Destination City | MINDEN |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 11 2002 2:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | JOHB |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |