Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
San Bernadino Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Bernadino, California 90427
Wednesday, June 28, 2000 8:05 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The twin engine airship was landing, and there were two ground crew assigned to catch the mooring rope and assist with the blimp landing. As the blimp neared the landing area, one of the ground handlers caught the nose line and the other ground handler ran to assist the first ground handler, who was running with the nose mooring rope to slow the airship. Both of the ground handlers collided with one another during this process and the second one fell backward and hit his head on the concrete ramp, which resulted in fatal head injuries. The ground crew personnel were not wearing helmets at the time of the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The ground crew's diverted attention toward the landing airship while trying to catch a mooring rope, which resulted in their failure to detect an immenient collision with each other.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/28/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 805 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | SAN BERNADINO |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90427 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340600N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1171400W |
| Event Location Airport | San Bernadino |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KSBD |
| 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 | 755 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 165 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RIV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1538 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 11 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| 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) | 30 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.98 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2304 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 1 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13188 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 28 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 857 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 18 2003 4:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N819AC |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA242 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Worldwide Aero Corp |
| Aircraft Model | AEROS-40B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | AEROS-40B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 017 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5975 |
| Aircraft Category | Blimp |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 21 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0.3 |
| Airframe Hours | 150 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Worldwide Aeros |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 8411 Camonga Ave. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Canoga Park |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91304 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | AIRSHIP USA, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1055 EAST TROPICANA, SUITE 277 |
| Operator City | LAS VEGAS |
| Operator State | NV |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | 89119 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SBD |
| Departure City | SAN BERNADINO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 730 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | SBD |
| Destination City | SAN BERNADINO |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 30 2003 4:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |