Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Hilo International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Friday, October 13, 2000 8:45 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The tail boom of the helicopter bent downward during landing following a practice hovering autorotation. The pilot reported that the accident occurred following their third hovering autorotation landing. He said that the touchdown was acceptable and would have met check ride criteria. About 2 seconds after touchdown there was "an obvious component failure" felt throughout the airframe, accompanied by severe vibrations and "audible and physical indications" of failure. After exiting the aircraft, the pilot expected to find a problem in the main rotor head and was surprised to find the tail boom bent downward at the midpoint. A postaccident examination of the helicopter revealed that the tail boom was fabricated from skins of thickness 0.025 inches, as opposed to a skin thickness of 0.032 inches identified in the structural repair manual. The helicopter records showed that the tail boom was originally installed on the (new) helicopter at the factory and had acquired 14,053 hours in service.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Inadequate maintenance by the helicopter manufacturer during manufacture, which installed skins of inadequate thickness on the tail boom. A factor in the accident was the failure of the manufacturer's quality control system to detect the inadequate thickness.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/13/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 845 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | HILO |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96720 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | HILO INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ITO |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 240 |
| Airport Elevation | 38 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 853 Hawaii Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 60 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HTO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 38 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | HST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3200 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1400 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| 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) | 75 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 72 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| 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 | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12003 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 18 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1045 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 15 2002 12:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N532BH |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA016 |
| 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 | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | AS350-BH |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | AS350-BH |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2494 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4630 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 18 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 68 |
| Airframe Hours | 14053 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HELICOPTER CONSULTANTS OF MAUI |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 105 KAHULUI HELIPORT |
| Aircraft Owner City | KAHULUI |
| Aircraft Owner State | HI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 96732 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | BLUE HAWAIIAN HELICOPTERS |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 105 KAHULUI HELIPORT |
| Operator City | KAHULUI |
| Operator State | HI |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 96732 |
| Operator Code | HCMA |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | ITO |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 825 |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| 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 | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 1 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 | -- |