Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hanapepe, Hawaii 96705
Sunday, June 3, 2001 16:40 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter experienced a loss of engine power while in cruise flight. The helicopter was on its way to a rugged area to rescue a person. The pilot indicated that the engine out warning system activated, and he autorotated to a creek after determining that he was unable to manually control the engine power. The pilot performed the autorotation landing to a steep and highly vegetated area. Post-accident examination of the engine revealed its turbine section sustained hot corrosion (sulfidation) damage, which reduced the cross sectional area of the airfoils. The degree of hot corrosion damage suggests that multiple over temperature events occurred over a number of flights. The reduced cross section resulted in the liberation of one or more of the airfoils in tensile overload. The failure of the airfoils resulted in secondary over temperature and failure of other airfoils in the turbine section and eventual turbine seizure. Examination of the TOT thermocouples revealed three of the four leads were broken; however, it could not be determined as to when the fractures occurred.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a loss of engine power while in cruise flight resulting from the failure and liberation of several turbine blades due to hot corrosion effects which weakened the blades. The hot corrosion damage was the result of multiple turbine over temperature events which occurred over several flights. Contributing factors were the lack of suitable terrain, and high vegetation.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/3/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1640 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | Hanapepe |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96705 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 215700N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1593300W |
| 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 | 1553 Hawaii Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 120 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KLIH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 153 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | HST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6500 |
| 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) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.01 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14617 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 3 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2015 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 30 2003 8:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-HNL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1109V |
| NTSB Number | LAX01FA200 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Hughes |
| Aircraft Model | 369D |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1100858D |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3000 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 2 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0.7 |
| Airframe Hours | 4450.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Smokey Mountain Helicopters, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3994 Pul Loko Rd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Hanapepe |
| Aircraft Owner State | HI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 96716 |
| 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 | ILDA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PAK |
| Departure City | Hanapepe |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1620 |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Hanapepe |
| Destination State | HI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 17 2003 2:58PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| 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 | Medical Emergency |