Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Meadview, Arizona 86444
Friday, August 10, 2001 14:28 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2004/AAB0402.pdf
On August 10, 2001, about 1428 mountain standard time, a Eurocopter AS350-B2 helicopter, N169PA, operating as Papillon 34, collided with terrain during an uncontrolled descent about 4 miles east of Meadview, Arizona. The helicopter was operated by Papillon Airways, Inc., as an air tour flight under Code of Federal Regulations 14 (CFR) Part 135. The helicopter was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire. The pilot and five passengers were killed, and the remaining passenger sustained serious injuries. The flight originated from the company terminal at the McCarran International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, Nevada, about 1245 as a tour of the west Grand Canyon area with a planned stop at a landing site in Quartermaster Canyon. The helicopter departed the landing site about 1400 and stopped at a company fueling facility at the Grand Canyon West Airport (GCW). The helicopter departed the fueling facility at 1420 and was en route to LAS when the accident occurred. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a visual flight rules flight plan was filed.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s loss of control of the helicopter for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/10/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1428 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Meadview |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 86444 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 355919N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1135900W |
| 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 | 2156 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 265 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KLAS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2181 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 66 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| 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) | 36 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 6 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 7 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14034 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Operator |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 10 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1505 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 21 2012 2:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | AAI-100 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N169PA |
| NTSB Number | LAX01MA272 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Eurocopter |
| Aircraft Model | AS350-B2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2477 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4961 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 2 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 37 |
| Airframe Hours | 1356 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Zuni LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 12515 Willows Rd. NE, #200 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Kirkland |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98034 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 245 E. Tropicana Avenue |
| Operator City | Las Vegas |
| Operator State | NV |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 89109 |
| Operator Code | PG9A |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 1G4 |
| Departure City | Grand Canyon W |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1425 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | LAS |
| Destination City | Las Vegas |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 5 2003 2:12PM |
| 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 | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |