Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Schoolcraft, Michigan 49087
Tuesady, May 22, 2001 17:00 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A pilot rated passenger who had been seated in the rear of the helicopter was fatally injured when he was struck by the main rotor blade upon exiting the helicopter. The helicopter was flown to the rear seat passengers residence and was landed on a low trailer, approximately 8 inches high. The pilot who had flow the helicopter to this location had been seated in the front right seat. The left front seat was occupied by another pilot and the pilot rated passenger was in the right rear seat. After landing, the right seat pilot and the passenger in the rear exited the helicopter. The left seat pilot held the controls waiting for the other two occupants to exit so he could fly the helicopter to another location. The left seat pilot reported that the passenger exited the right rear side of the helicopter and as the passenger neared the two-thirty position of the helicopter, he saw him falling forward. He reported the passenger fell to the ground and never moved. He reported he then shut down the engine and applied the rotor brake. The fatally injured passenger was a helicopter pilot. His family reported that he had been flying airplanes since the 1960's and had been a helicopter pilot since 1988.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot rated passenger failed to maintain clearance with the rotor blades as he exited the helicopter.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/22/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1700 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Schoolcraft |
| Event State | MICHIGAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 49087 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 25 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | AZO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 874 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 600 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| 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) | 29.73 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 1 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11861 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 22 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 18 2002 10:15AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Grand Rapids, MI FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5259N |
| NTSB Number | CHI01LA145 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell Helicopter |
| Aircraft Model | 407 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 53192 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5500 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 5 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 591 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BEX Leasing, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3511 Silverside Rd., Ste 105 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 14810 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Southside Landfill |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 5300 Miller Road |
| Operator City | Kalamazoo |
| Operator State | MI |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 49001 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | HHG |
| Departure City | Huntington |
| Departure State | IN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1600 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Schoolcraft |
| Destination State | MI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Standing - engine(s) operating |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 24 2002 3:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |