Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Jackson, Wyoming 83001
Friday, March 2, 2001 12:00 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of the helicopter was looking for a group of people to be picked up at a designated point. Flying over the location, he realized that they had not yet arrived, so he decided to land at an alternate location and await their arrival. He had landed at the alternate location previously but not on the day of the accident. He said the visibility was good, but there were no shadows due to the overcast. The approach was normal, and the pilot used a small pine tree to the right front quarter of the helicopter as a reference point. As the helicopter touched down, the pilot heard a loud noise and the helicopter yawed. Believing there had been a mechanical failure, the pilot lowered the collective control and closed the throttle. Postaccident inspection revealed there had not been a mechanical failure. Rather, the pilot had not seen the snow covered slope to the left front quarter of the helicopter. The main rotor blades struck the surface of the ground and the helicopter settled into deep snow. The transmission separated from its mounts, the main rotor blades were destroyed, and the tail boom was severed.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate lateral and vertical clearance during landing. Factors were the clouds and snow-covered high terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/2/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1200 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Jackson |
| Event State | WYOMING |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83001 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1035 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 38 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | JAC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6447 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| 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) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.77 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 5268 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10232 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA, NW OPERATIONS CENTER |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 2 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1630 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 30 2001 11:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City, Utah |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9HE |
| NTSB Number | DEN01LA060 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 407 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 53073 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5250 |
| 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 | Feb 19 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 17 |
| Airframe Hours | 1950 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Helicopter Express, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 500 Briscoe Blvd., Suite 5B |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lawrenceville |
| Aircraft Owner State | GA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 30045 |
| 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 | H11A |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | Jackson |
| Departure State | WY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1020 |
| 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 | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 1 2001 12:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| 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 | -- |