Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Lihue Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lihue, Hawaii 96766
Thursday, February 1, 2001 9:18 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial pilot was performing a hydraulic accumulator test during the before takeoff check when the helicopter inadvertently lifted off. The hydraulic pressure had been bled off during the test, and the pilot could not regain control of the helicopter prior to it impacting the ground tail rotor first. The collective was locked down during the accumulator test; however, it became unlocked when the pilot was repositioning his hands to restore hydraulic power after the accumulator test. FAA inspectors indicated that the collective lock design allowed for the release of the collective when the cyclic was moved during the test with the hydraulic pressure depleted.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The manufacturer's inadequate collective lock design, which resulted in the collective unlocking during a preflight check and subsequent unintentional liftoff and loss of helicopter control. The pilot's loss of control was due in part to the unavailability of the hydraulic system.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/1/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 918 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | Lihue |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96766 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 215800N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1592000W |
| Event Location Airport | Lihue |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LIH |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 853 Hawaii Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LIH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 153 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | HST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.13 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12991 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 1 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1145 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 15 2003 4:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-HNL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N985SA |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA083 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Eurocopter |
| Aircraft Model | AS-350-B2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3111 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4961 |
| 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 | Jan 3 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3093.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SAF, LTC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3225 Akahi Street |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lihue |
| Aircraft Owner State | HI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 96766 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Safari Helicopter, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. Box 1941 |
| Operator City | Lihue |
| Operator State | HI |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 96766 |
| Operator Code | XSFA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LIH |
| Departure City | -- |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 918 |
| 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 | Standing - engine(s) operating |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 29 2003 4:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |