Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Green Valley, Arizona 85614
Thursday, April 20, 2000 7:15 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While maneuvering about 20 feet above obstacles looking for the footprints of a group of suspected illegal entrants, the U.S. Border Patrol pilot suddenly experienced an unusual vibration in the cyclic control. After the vibration started, the helicopter almost immediately started turning right and descended. The pilot attempted to stop the turn and descent, but to no avail, and he crashed in the rough terrain. The previous day a 300-hour inspection had been completed by Border Patrol mechanics, and it involved a rebuild of the swashplate assembly. During this maintenance, the cyclic control's longitudinal link (part number 369A7608) was removed and replaced at the stationary swashplate. Upon completion of the maintenance, a cotter pin is required to be installed in the link's attachment nut to secure it. The cotter pin, and the respective nut, were observed missing at the accident site. During the recent maintenance, a mechanic had failed to reinstall the cotter pin into the nut, and it backed off during flight. This maintenance oversight-related failure resulted in the pilot's complete loss of cyclic control.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Company maintenance personnel's failure to secure an attachment nut to a control link. While maneuvering, the parts separated and resulted in the total cyclic control system failure and impact into rough terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/20/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 715 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | GREEN VALLEY |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85614 |
| 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 | 655 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 10 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TUS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2643 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 23 |
| 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) | 55 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 25 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| 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) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10909 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 20 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 916 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 1 2001 7:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N61869 |
| NTSB Number | LAX00TA163 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Hughes |
| Aircraft Model | OH-6A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | OH-6A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 69-16002 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 19 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2 |
| Airframe Hours | 7603 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | U.S. BORDER PATROL AIR OPS. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 9C BUTTERFIELD TRAIL |
| Aircraft Owner City | EL PASO |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 79906 |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TUS |
| Departure City | TUCSON |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 600 |
| 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 | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 17 2001 10:40AM |
| 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 | -- |