Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Riverside Hospital Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101
Friday, July 28, 2000 11:40 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The hospital helicopter pad security video camera showed the helicopter had flown into the wind during the approach to hovering over the helicopter pad. A hover turn was used to place the left side of the helicopter nearest to the patient ramp. The helicopter then landed on the pad. The shadow of the windsock seen on the video recording indicated the wind was from the direction aft of the helicopter when the helicopter landed on the pad. The helicopter started to lift off the helicopter pad when the tailrotor struck the helicopter pad light that was below the tailrotor. The aft portion of the helicopter's skids were still on the deck of the helicopter pad, or very nearly still on the deck of the helicopter pad, when the tailrotor struck the lighting fixture. The helicopter yawed to right about 30 degrees and the weight of the helicopter settled back down on the helicopter's skid. The main rotor and tail rotor blades came to a complete stop about 10 seconds after the tailrotor hit the light fixture. The top of the light fixture measured about 19 inches in height. The surface weather observation recorded at MSP at 1109 cdt indicated the winds were 020 degrees at 10 knots. The surface weather observation recorded at MSP at 1153 cdt indicated the winds were 010 degrees at 12 knots gusting to 17 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadequate preflight and improper vertical takeoff and not obtaining clearance from helicopter pad light. Factors included the tailwind takeoff and the helipad light.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/28/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1140 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | ST. PAUL |
| Event State | MINNESOTA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 55101 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | RIVERSIDE HOSPITAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 9MN4 |
| 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 | 1153 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 5 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MSP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 700 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 350 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2700 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 69 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 62 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 10 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 17 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10542 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 30 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1716 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 2 2009 12:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N224LL |
| NTSB Number | CHI00LA230 |
| 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 | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | BH-222-U |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | BH-222-U |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 47552 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 8250 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 19 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | 7229 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AIR METHODS CORP. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 7301 SOUTH PEORIA ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | ENGLEWOOD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80112 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | QMLA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 9MN4 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1140 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | STP |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | MN |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 2 2009 12:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | Yes |
| Medical Flight | -- |