Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Willcox, Arizona 85643
Monday, April 23, 2001 14:30 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The single engine helicopter impacted trees and terrain during a forced landing following a reported loss of engine power. According to the crew's statements, during the positioning flight back to their hospital base one of the flight nurses spotted a herd of antelope and pointed them out to the pilot. The pilot turned toward the herd. As he slowed down and maneuvered the helicopter to view the animals he detected the engine out audio warning and corresponding engine out warning light. The pilot noticed the rotor rpm dropping and he looked at the engine turbine outlet temperature gauge to verify that the engine had lost power. He added that he could no longer hear the engine. The pilot lowered the collective at 500 feet agl, and entered an autorotation. The pilot noticed the rotor rpm was in the low 90's at the time of autorotation entry. The pilot selected a landing area and informed the cabin crew that this was for real and to brace themselves. As the helicopter decelerated, the pilot rolled the throttle to the off position. When the pilot realized that he was going to impact a tree, he pulled up on collective to cushion the landing. The helicopter impacted the tree, then the ground, and came to rest upright in flat desert terrain covered with scrub brush. Photographs taken at the accident site revealed open areas void of trees surrounding the landing spot. The helicopter was examined and nothing was noted that would have precluded normal operation. A post-accident test run of the engine revealed no anomalies during repeated accelerations and decelerations. The engine's measured power output exceeded new engine specifications. The engine was not equipped with an auto reignition system.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to the likely unporting of the fuel tank pickups as the helicopter was maneuvered to look at animals on the ground. Also causal was the pilot's misjudged touchdown point during an autorotational approach, which resulted in the in-flight impact with a tree.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/23/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1430 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Willcox |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85643 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 321500N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1100600W |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1355 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 240 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TUS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2643 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 42 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 33 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13492 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 25 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 820 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 30 2003 9:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SDL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N215M |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA157 |
| 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 | 206-L3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 51272 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4150 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 8 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 72.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 3596.2 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | William Morrissey |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Phoenix |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85034 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Critical Air Medicine, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4141 Kearny Villa Road |
| Operator City | San Diego |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 92123 |
| Operator Code | IBUA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TUS |
| Departure City | Tucson |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | P33 |
| Destination City | Willcox |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 2 2009 1:38PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | Yes |
| Medical Flight | -- |