Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Borger Hutchinson County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Borger, Texas 79008
Thursday, February 15, 2001 22:15 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The non-instrument rated private pilots did not obtain a weather briefing or file a flight plan for the night cross-country flight. During dark night conditions, a witness observed the helicopter descending from the clouds following a highway. The helicopter appeared to be at a height just above a 285-foot tall radio tower. Approximately 5 miles south of the radio tower, the helicopter struck an electrical pole, impacted terrain, and came to rest adjacent to an oil pump jack. A weather study revealed that the accident site was in an area of low ceilings and restricted visibility. During examination of the helicopter, no anomalies were found with the engine or airframe that would have precluded normal flight operations.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadvertent flight into instrument meteorological conditions and failure to maintain obstacle clearance. Contributing factors were the pilot's failure to obtain an updated preflight weather briefing and the dark night conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/15/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2215 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Borger |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 79008 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 353637N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1012321W |
| Event Location Airport | Borger Hutchinson County |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BGD |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 9 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 170 |
| Airport Elevation | 3054 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| 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 | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Obscured |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11481 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Communications Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 24 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1245 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2002 1:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | LUBBOCK, TEXAS |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4002M |
| NTSB Number | FTW01FA069 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Robinson |
| Aircraft Model | R-22 BETA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1444 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1370 |
| 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 | Dec 7 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 21.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 975.6 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Gene and Bobbie Webb |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1201 W McCormick Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Amarillo |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 79118 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | E19 |
| Departure City | Gruver |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2130 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | NONE |
| Destination City | Amarillo |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Unknown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 28 2002 6:00PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MORJU |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |