Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cody, Wyoming 82414
Tuesady, July 17, 2001 15:15 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that he was starting his 27th move of geophysical drilling equipment for the day. He was pulling in power to lift (long line) an engine and a compressor when he heard two loud "pops." He lost engine power, but did not release the long line because his ground helper was underneath the load. He moved forward a short distance, and autorotated to a 45 degree hill side. The aircraft landed and immediately rolled on its side with the mast pointing down slope which stopped the rolling. The ground helper said that he saw "fire shooting out of the tailpipe" as the helicopter descended towards the earth. Postaccident examination of the engine revealed that all the turbine blades had experienced an extreme over temperature condition. The density altitude was computed to be 9,205 feet.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the failure of the turbine assembly due to an over temperature condition. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/17/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1515 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Cody |
| Event State | WYOMING |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 82414 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 443955N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1090806W |
| 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 | 1515 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | COD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5098 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| 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) | 29.93 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 9640 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12740 |
| NTSB Notification Source | OPERATOR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 17 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1510 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 1 2003 4:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Casper, WY |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2128Z |
| NTSB Number | DEN01LA125 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | SA315B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 06-201 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5070 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 17 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2.6 |
| Airframe Hours | 21475 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert's Aircraft Company |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 120 N. Frontage Rd. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fort Collins |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80524 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | GEO-SEIS HELICOPTERS INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 116 N. Racquett Dr. |
| Operator City | Ft. Collins |
| Operator State | CO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 80524 |
| Operator Code | EKKA |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | Cody |
| Departure State | WY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1430 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 10 2002 12:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | -- |
| Air Medical Flight | -- |
| Medical Flight | -- |