Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Burlington, North Carolina 27215
Monday, October 16, 2000 23:55 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 5 minutes before landing at a hospital, the main rotor gearbox (MGB) oil pressure warning light illuminated. The pilot continued to the hospital, landed, and performed an immediate engine shutdown. A mechanic disconnected the wiring to the MGB oil pressure switch and the light went out. The mechanic stated he believed the oil pressure switch had failed and he asked the pilot to run the helicopter, hover the helicopter, and if everything was normal, to fly it back to the base hospital. The pilot did the run and hover, and then departed the hospital. The helicopter crashed about 1 minute later. Witnesses stated they heard the helicopter approach the crash site at a low altitude and making a slow thumping noise. Examination of the MGB showed the oil pump idler gear had seized in the oil pump due to undetermined reasons and the oil pump drive shaft had failed due to overstress. The teeth on the engine input gears, intermediate gears, and MGB drive gear in the MGB combining gearbox had failed due to high-temperature overstress, which was the result of oil starvation. The helicopter was not equipped with a MGB oil pressure indicator. The maintenance procedure for trouble shooting an illuminated MGB oil pressure warning light is to first check the electrical circuit, and if this does not correct the problem, to change the oil pressure switch. The mechanic stated he did not have the maintenance manuals with him while working on the helicopter. The MGB had been installed in the helicopter after overhaul, 3 days and 4 flight hours before the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The mechanics failure to comply with manufacturers instructions for correction of a illuminated main rotor gearbox oil pressure warning light resulting in the helicopter being dispatched on a ferry flight with a failed main rotor gearbox oil pump, failure of the main rotor gearbox combining gearbox gears due to oil starvation, loss of main rotor RPM, and the helicopter colliding with trees and the ground during an uncontrolled descent.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/16/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 2355 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | BURLINGTON |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 27215 |
| 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 | |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2354 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 170 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BUY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 617 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Bright |
| 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) | 4 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 55 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 54 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| 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) | 600 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11103 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Atl Comm. Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 17 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 200 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 28 2001 7:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N355DU |
| NTSB Number | MIA01FA006 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | AS-355-F2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | AS-355-F2 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 5489 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5600 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 10 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 72 |
| Airframe Hours | 4192 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DUKE UNIVERSITY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 3520 |
| Aircraft Owner City | DURHAM |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 27710 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | CORPORATE JETS, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 57 ALLEGHENY COUNTY AIRPORT |
| Operator City | WEST MIFFLIN |
| Operator State | PA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 15122 |
| Operator Code | BAQA |
| 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) | Ferry |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 4NC3 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2354 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | NC92 |
| Destination City | DURHAM |
| Destination State | NC |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 2 2009 1:45PM |
| 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 | -- |