Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lakewood, Colorado 80214
Tuesady, April 18, 2000 10:21 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During initial descent at the completion of a cross-country flight, the pilot heard a loud bang from the rear of the helicopter and manipulation of the tail rotor control became ineffective. The pilot performed an autorotation to a landing in a field, which sloped up about 6 degrees and was rough and uneven. During landing with about 5 knots forward speed, the lower wire cutter dug into the ground and the skids collapsed twisting the cross tubes aft. The main rotor blades were not damaged and the tail booms buckled downward at the forward attach point. The pilot performed a normal shut down and he and his passenger exited the helicopter with no injuries. Examination of the helicopter following the event revealed that both tail rotor blades had separated approximately 9 inches outboard of the hub. Laboratory tests revealed that one tail rotor blade failed from fatigue. The fatigue origin occurred at the protective strip trailing edge inboard of the outboard tip of the blade doubler. Inspection at the origin revealed the fatigue was a result of chemical machining/etching that took place during the manufacturing process.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The complete loss of the tail rotor blades due to a fatigue failure of one blade. Factors were sloping and rough uneven terrain for the ensuing forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/18/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1021 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | LAKEWOOD |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80214 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1053 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 110 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | APA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5883 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 12000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 25 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 7800 |
| 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) | 268 |
| NTSB Notification Source | faa nw operations center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 18 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1201 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 9 2001 8:54AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N937S |
| NTSB Number | DEN00FA074 |
| 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 | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 206L-3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 206L-3 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 51258 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4150 |
| 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 | Mar 1 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 54 |
| Airframe Hours | 4832 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MOUNTAIN STATES TELEPHONE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 7425 S. PEORIA STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | ENGLEWOOD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80112 |
| 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 | |
| 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 | 20V |
| Departure City | KREMMLING |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1020 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | APA |
| Destination City | ENGLEWOOD |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 9 2001 8:54AM |
| 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 | -- |