Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sherman Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sherman, Texas 75090
Tuesady, July 25, 2000 12:15 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, the helicopter was on final approach at 20 feet agl and 40 knots when it 'abruptly yawed left.' The pilot noted that the engine RPM 'pegged off the dial.' The pilot lowered the collective and rolled the throttle to idle. Approximately 5 feet agl, the pilot increased the collective and applied 'slight' aft cyclic. The helicopter impacted the ground on the rear section of the right skid, bounced, and rolled over onto its left side. Examination of the helicopter at the accident site revealed that the clutch cable had separated. The clutch cable was examined and found to have failed as a result of high-cycle fatigue crack propagation on the individual wires. The initiation of the fatigue cracks correlated to an area of contact between the wires; however, there was no evidence of manufacturing or material defects in the cable assembly that could be associated with the failure. Examination of the failed cable revealed that it may have been difficult to notice the failing clutch cable wires without disassembly. According to the helicopter's maintenance manual , disassembly and inspection of the clutch cable and clutch assembly is to be completed every 400 hours. At the time of the accident, the helicopter had accumulated a total of 757.5 flight hours and 398.9 hours since the last 400-hour inspection.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the total failure of the clutch cable during landing, which resulted from fatigue cracking of the cable's individual wires.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/25/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1215 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | SHERMAN |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 75090 |
| 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 | SHERMAN MUNICIPAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SWI |
| 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 | 745 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| 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) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 110 |
| 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) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10065 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 25 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1200 |
| 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 | N298SH |
| NTSB Number | FTW00LA216 |
| 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 | Schweizer |
| Aircraft Model | 269C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 269C |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 51761 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2050 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 9 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 92 |
| Airframe Hours | 758 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SKYLANE HELICOPTERS LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 301 E. AIRPORT RD. HANGAR L |
| Aircraft Owner City | DECATUR |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76234 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SWI |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1100 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| 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 | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 16 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 | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |