Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Manokotak, Alaska 99628
Wednesday, March 29, 2000 20:00 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airline transport certificated helicopter pilot was transporting a radio technician from a remote radio repeater site as part of a government contract with the U.S. Coast Guard. After departing the repeater site, the pilot was in cruise flight about 500 feet above the ground. The weather conditions were 700 feet overcast, with a visibility of 1 to 2 miles. Snow squalls were moving through the area. The pilot said he was maintaining his visual reference to the ground by using terrain features while flying over a flat, snow-covered delta. Just before the accident, the pilot said he was utilizing a line of shrubs as a point of visual reference, but he could not see any additional visual cues beyond the line of shrubs. He decided to turn around and began a right turn. During the turn, he said he lost all visual references to the ground. He looked at the helicopter's attitude indicator, and noticed he was in a 45 degree right bank, and a 10 degree nose low attitude. He leveled the helicopter and applied collective pitch to begin a climb. The helicopter then collided with the snow. During the collision, the landing gear skids were torn off the fuselage, the main rotor blades separated from the rotor mast, and the tail boom was severed. The helicopter came to rest on its right side. The helicopter was not equipped with a radar altimeter.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's continued VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions. Factors in the accident were low ceilings and snow, and snow-covered terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/29/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2000 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | MANOKOTAK |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99628 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| 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 | 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 | Partial Obscuration |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 1 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 1 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 40 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| 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) | 747 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 29 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2023 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 11 2001 4:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5006R |
| NTSB Number | ANC00TA039 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 206B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 206B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2532 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 9 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 23 |
| Airframe Hours | 8120 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CALALASKA HELICOPTERS INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3123 LIBERTOR ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | SANTA MARIA |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93455 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | U.S. COAST GUARD |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | COAST GUARD ISLAND, BLDG 55A |
| Operator City | ALAMEDA |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 94501 |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | TUKLUNG |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1950 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PADL |
| Destination City | DILLINGHAM |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 11 2001 4:05AM |
| 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 | -- |