Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Niagara Falls, New York 14304
Thursday, July 19, 2001 15:40 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter came to a hover over a helicopter-dolly in preparation for landing. The wind was to the front right of the helicopter as the pilot lowered the collective. As the helicopter touched down, the pilot felt that the right skid was not properly situated on the dolly. When he increased collective to reposition the helicopter, it rolled to the right, and impacted the ground. About 15 minutes after the accident, a weather facility located approximately 3 miles to the southeast of the accident site, recorded the wind as 8 knots. According to FAA AC 90-87, if a rolling moment is allowed to develop while one skid is in contact with the ground, a helicopter can exceed its critical rollover angle, and roll onto its side. The pilot had approximately 2,200 hours of total flight experience, all of which was in turbine helicopters, and about 200 hours of that was in the accident helicopter make and model.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The right skid getting snagged on the helicopter-dolly resulting in dynamic rollover.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/19/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1540 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Niagara Falls |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 14304 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | 1555 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 330 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | IAG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 600 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4500 |
| 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) | 12 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.11 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10771 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Rochester FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 20 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 930 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 17 2001 9:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Rochester FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N577DB |
| NTSB Number | NYC01LA179 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | 369E |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0381E |
| 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 | Jul 11 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 20 |
| Airframe Hours | 4588.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Rainbow Air, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 454 Main Street |
| Aircraft Owner City | Niagara Falls |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | IAG |
| Departure City | NIAGARA FALLS |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1530 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Niagara Falls |
| Destination State | NY |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 1 2001 3:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |