Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Grand Canyon, Arizona 86023
Sunday, April 16, 2000 12:08 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 5 minutes after takeoff, while in cruise flight, the pilot felt a few short 'clunks' and then heard grinding noise and felt violent shaking. The pilot elected to perform a precautionary, autorotative, off-airport landing. During the landing flare, the tail rotor and tail stinger contacted the ground. The tail rotor blades were damaged, the stinger broken, and the tail rotor gearbox was fractured. The vibration that the pilot felt was traced to a failed bearing at the oil cooler fan forward hanger. The bearing was sent to the helicopter manufacturer for examination; however, a fracture mode could not be identified due to damage to the fracture surfaces. An airworthiness directive applied to the bearing and was complied with 11 flight hours prior to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure and subsequent disintegration of the oil cooler fan forward hanger bearing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/16/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1208 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | GRAND CANYON |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 86023 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1154 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GCN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6606 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| 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) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10112 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 16 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1450 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 17 2001 8:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N175PA |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA156 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 407 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 407 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 53154 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5000 |
| 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 31 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 33 |
| Airframe Hours | 1848 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | INDIA I INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 12515 WILLOWS RD NE, STE 200 |
| Aircraft Owner City | KIRKLAND |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98034 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | PAPILLON AIRWAYS INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | HWY 64, GRAND CYN AIRPORT |
| Operator City | GRAND CANYON |
| Operator State | AZ |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 86023 |
| Operator Code | PG9A |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | GCN |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1205 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| 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 | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 15 2001 4:03AM |
| 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 | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |