Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mountain View, California 94089
Saturday, June 16, 2001 14:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During powerline maintenance work, the pilot lost control of the helicopter, resulting in the main rotor blades contacting a transmission line tower, and the helicopter fell to the ground. As he had on numerous occasions, the pilot flew to the tower to pickup a passenger who was performing maintenance on it. The pilot placed one of the helicopter's skids on the tower and the passenger began boarding. However, on this occasion a gust of wind was experienced and the wind direction suddenly shifted. Despite the pilot's effort to maintain control, the helicopter dynamically rolled over resulting in a main rotor blade striking the tower. Thereafter, the pilot lost total control and the helicopter fell about 90 feet to the ground. No mechanical malfunctions were reported.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain control while hovering out of ground effect. A factor was the wind gusts.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/16/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1415 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Mountain View |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94089 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 372542N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1220128W |
| 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 | 1356 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 200 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | NUQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 34 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 340 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12353 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 16 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1434 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 24 2002 3:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO San Jose, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4467V |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA211 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Hughes |
| Aircraft Model | 369HS |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 12063635 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 24 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 6 |
| Airframe Hours | 7635 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TRINITY HELICOPTERS, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 22439 Skywest Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | Hayward |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94541 |
| 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 | TH6L |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | External Load |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NUQ |
| Departure City | MOUNTAIN VIEW |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1410 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Mountain View |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover - out of ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 9 2002 3:22PM |
| 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 | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |