Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ojai, California 93023
Tuesady, September 19, 2000 12:35 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was flying personnel to several flood control monitoring stations. After landing to the west on a ridgeline at an elevation about 5,000 feet, the pilot decided to reposition closer to the station. He hover taxied to his landing area. As the skids touched down, the pilot felt the helicopter slide to the right. He picked back up into a hover and decided to fly back to the original landing site. After applying takeoff power, he pushed the nose of the helicopter over and began to fly away downslope. The nose of the helicopter began to rotate to the right, even with full left pedal applied. The pilot reduced collective and continued downslope. As the nose continued to the right, he increased collective, and began to follow the right yaw with cyclic. He flew the helicopter to a downwind position approximately abeam his landing site. Then the nose tucked down and the tail swung to the left. He reduced collective and throttle as the helicopter crash-landed into the slope below his landing site. The air temperature was 85 degrees Fahrenheit, the density altitude was about 8,000 feet, and the winds were from 240 degrees at 5 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot encountered a loss of tail rotor effectiveness which led to an uncontrolled rotation and subsequent hard landing. Factors were unfavorable wind conditions, density altitude, and uneven terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/19/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1235 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | OJAI |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93023 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| 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 | Partial - limited by pilot |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1251 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 185 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OXR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 43 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 700 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 3 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 66 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 61 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| 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) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 8000 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10922 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 19 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1440 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 6 2001 9:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N90214 |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA343 |
| 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 | 206BIII |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 206BIII |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1662 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 28 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 48 |
| Airframe Hours | 15400 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ASPEN HELICOPTERS, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2899 W. 5TH |
| Aircraft Owner City | OXNARD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93030 |
| 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 | IGAA |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | OXR |
| Departure City | OXNARD |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1110 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 19 2001 4:45AM |
| 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 | -- |