Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Darby, Montana 59829
Wednesday, February 7, 2001 14:00 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was on the last half of his first external load of the afternoon when he reported over the radio, " tail rotor failure, look out landing" (referring to the log landing crew.) The pilot released his logs from the lower hook, but retained his 150-foot line. He flew over the log landing to regain airspeed, but the helicopter's long line then snagged a tree on the far side of the landing, causing the aircraft to roll left and pitch nose down. The aircraft impacted the ground 250 feet from the snagged tree, nose low, with between 100 and 130 degrees of left roll, landing on the top left crew door post. During post-accident examination, one of the pitch links on the tail rotor hub was found disconnected from the pitch horn on the tail rotor grip. The attaching bolt, nut, cotter key and washers associated with the disconnected tail rotor pitch link were missing and were not located. No other evidence of inflight malfunction of the tail rotor drive train or tail rotor control system was noted. Examination of the tail rotor pitch change links and blade grip horns at the NTSB Materials Laboratory disclosed evidence of a complete loss of the pitch change link-to-blade grip horn attach bolt before ground impact, as a result of either its nut backing off inflight or of the bolt itself fracturing inflight.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Inflight loss of a tail rotor pitch change link-to-blade grip attach bolt, resulting partial loss of tail rotor control, and subsequent entanglement of the helicopter's external load cable with a tree during emergency descent. Factors included the pilot's retention of external load equipment, and the tree in which the external load cable became entangled.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/7/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Darby |
| Event State | MONTANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 59829 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| 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) | 4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13853 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 7 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1505 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2003 8:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Helena, MT |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N205GL |
| NTSB Number | SEA01LA046 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Western International |
| Aircraft Model | UH-1H |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 74-22356 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 30 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 59 |
| Airframe Hours | 11387.2 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Grim Logging Co., Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 5930 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Salem |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 973040930 |
| 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 | G6LL |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | External Load |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Darby |
| Departure State | MT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1345 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| 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 | Other |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 30 2001 6:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |