Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Flying Ten Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Archer, Florida 32618
Sunday, February 11, 2001 15:09 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A witness said he heard the "usual engine pop" occur about 5 or 6 times as the main rotor increased speed, and shortly after, the helicopter lifted off and rose to an altitude of about 5 or 6 feet. He again heard a loud "pop", like a loud backfire, or the bang of metal hitting metal, and saw the helicopter rock to the left, right, and left again, i.e. from side to side, and the nose pitched down. The helicopter then rolled to the left again, and one of the main rotor blades struck the concrete helipad, breaking a blade. The helicopter then descended, and impacted the concrete helipad on the left side. The rotor blades continued to rotate, and repetitively struck the ground, throwing debris over a wide area and the cockpit area subsequently erupted into flames. Postcrash examination of the helicopter revealed that the damage to the tail boom, as well as the tail and main rotor systems were consistent with overload. The tailboom separated at the aft edge of the horizontal stabilizer's location, and the tail rotor drive shaft was bent forward of the 90-degree gearbox, at the tailcone attach point. The examination revealed no evidence of preaccident anomalies with the engine or transmission. Control continuity was not established due to fire damage. Cyclic pitch control and collective push pull tubes from each respective bellcranks had melted with only molten aluminum deposits remaining under the hardware on the end of each bellcrank. Push/pull tubes from the antitorque pedals, which connect to a bellcrank and subsequently to dual cables which run the length of the empennage had extensive fire damage, and the lateral push rod had separated at both ends. The vertical push rod was separated at the lower attach end aft of the tailcone attach point. The student pilot/owner's wife, as well as witnesses stated that the student had transported the helicopter to the accident location via trailer to obtain flight instruction from the PIC. FAA records indicated that the PIC did not possess a current flight instructor certificate, and had last been issued a flight instructor certificate in on March 25, 1985 which had expired on March 31, 1987. Information from the PIC's logbook showed that he last received a biennial flight review on January 19, 1999.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight crew's loss of control for undermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/11/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1509 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Archer |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32618 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 293705N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0823031W |
| Event Location Airport | Flying Ten Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 0J8 |
| 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 | 85 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1453 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 110 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GNV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 152 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| 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) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 20 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.21 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1700 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12996 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CNTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 11 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1542 |
| 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 | Orlando |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2166U |
| NTSB Number | MIA01FA075 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Brantly |
| Aircraft Model | B-2B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 328 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1670 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 9 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | B and W Helicopters |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 130 Stan Avenue |
| Aircraft Owner City | Stanton |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 15672 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | None |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | 0J8 |
| Departure City | Archer |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1509 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| 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 | Hover - in ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 27 2003 1:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |