Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Aiken, South Carolina 29801
Monday, April 17, 1989 12:05 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE HELICOPTER WAS BEING OPERD AT APRX 100 FT AGL WITH A HOPPER EXTDD FROM A CABLE. WITNESSES HEARD A LOUD POPPING SOUND. AS THEY LOOKED IN THE DRCTN OF THE HELICOPTER, THEY NOTED THE TAIL ROTOR WAS NOT TURNING & ONE BLADE APPEARED TO BE HANGING. THE PLT RPRTD THERE WAS NO WARNING OF AN IMPENDING ANTI-TORQUE CONTROL PROBLEM WHEN HE LOST CONTROL OF THE HELICOPTER. THE HELICOPTER THEN COLLIDED WITH TREES & CRASHED. INV REVEALED THE PLT HAD RPRTD AN OIL LEAK FM THE 90 DEG GEARBOX ON 4/11/89. THE COMPANY MECHANIC SUBSEQUENTLY REPLACED THE GEARBOX & A FUNCTIONAL TEST FLT WAS COMPLETED. THE ACDNT OCCURRED AFTER APRX ANOTHER 6 HRS OF OPN. AN EXAM OF THE TAIL ROTOR ASSEMBLY REVEALED THAT 1 OF THE 2 RETENTION BOLTS WERE MISSING FM THE TAIL ROTOR PITCH CHANGE CROSSHEAD. THREADED IMPRINTS WERE FND INSIDE THE RESPECTIVE CROSSHEAD RETENTION THRU-BOLT HOLE. THE RETENTION BOLT, NUT, WASHER & COTTER PIN WERE NOT RECOVERED. BOTH TAIL ROTOR BLADES CONTAINED CHORDWISE MARKS WHICH CORRESPONDED TO MARKS ON THE VERTICAL FIN (OPPOSITE OF THE TAIL ROTOR TIP PATH PLANE).
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
IMPROPER INSTALLATION OF A TAIL ROTOR PITCH CHANGE CROSSHEAD RETENTION BOLT BY THE COMPANY MECHANIC, WHICH RESULTED IN LOOSENING OF THE BOLT AND EVENTUAL FAILURE OF THE TAIL ROTOR ASSEMBLY/BLADE AND SUBSEQUENT LOSS OF CONTROL. TREES AT THE CRASH SITE CONTRIBUTED TO HELICOPTER DAMAGE.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/17/1989 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1205 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | AIKEN |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29801 |
| Event Date Year | 1989 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 0 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -18 |
| 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) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 0 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1418 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 17 1989 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1300 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 39717 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 12:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N118HS |
| NTSB Number | ATL89FA130 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | UH-1E |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | UH-1E |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 155341 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 9500 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 7 1989 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 100 |
| Airframe Hours | 5414 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HELICOPTER SYSTEMS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 221 |
| Aircraft Owner City | SCOTTSDALE |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 15683 |
| 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 | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | External Load |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Unknown |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Unknown |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Unknown |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1000 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| 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 | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | 0 |
| Runway Width | 0 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |