Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
San Francisco International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Francisco, California 94128
Thursday, July 12, 2001 13:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter made a hard landing and severed the tail boom after an in-flight engine failure and autorotation. The pilot reported seeing an engine chip light and hearing a whining sound in the engine about 700 feet agl. An engine out light followed by a complete engine failure occurred about 1 minute later. The pilot had been descending to land in an open field by that time. The collective was lowered to enter an autorotation and aft cyclic applied to slow the forward airspeed. As he neared the bottom of the maneuver, he pulled collective pitch to cushion the landing; however, the helicopter abruptly spun 90 degrees to the left. The main rotor blades struck the tail boom and the ground. The tail boom was separated from the helicopter. After an inspection and teardown of the engine, the 2 1/2 bearing was found to have failed in fatigue. Records revealed that a chip light had been reported in the same helicopter on a flight (4) days prior. Before being returned to service, a magnetic plug inspection/cleaning and an engine ground test run were performed. According to the Allision 250 Series Operation and Maintenance Manual, when either a chip light is encountered after a gearbox flush and a second ground test run has been performed or when a total of (4) chip lights have been encountered within 50 hours of engine operation, the engine must be removed from service and sent to the manufacturer's authorized maintenance center.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the accessory gearbox 2 1/2 bearing in fatigue resulting in the complete loss of engine power and a subsequent forced landing. The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the autorotational flare maneuver is also causal. The operator's failure to comply with the recommendations in the engine service manual regarding removal of the engine from service for detailed inspection is a factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/12/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | San Francisco |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94128 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | San Francisco International |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SFO |
| 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 | 11 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1256 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSFO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 11 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1800 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| 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) | 30.09 |
| 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) | 13589 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 12 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1420 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 1 2003 9:44AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO-OAK |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N474SF |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA243 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| 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 | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 206B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1526 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| 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 | Apr 25 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 99.5 |
| Airframe Hours | 5876 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | McClelland, John and Teri |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Francisco |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94128 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | MCCLELLAND, JOHN AND TERI |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. Box 280776 |
| Operator City | San Francisco |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 94128 |
| Operator Code | HLRA |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SFO |
| Departure City | San Francisco |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1317 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | SFO |
| Destination City | San Francisco |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 14 2003 2:30PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |