Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Emigrant, Montana 59065
Friday, August 31, 2001 9:05 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Kawasaki Vertol KV-107 II rotorcraft had departed the helibase on a non-mandatory test flight requested by the pilot-in-command (PIC) to 'tweak' the rotorcraft's engine synchronization system. The test flight was conducted with the bucket and 150 foot long line attached to facilitate the test procedure. Witnesses reported observing the rotorcraft between 300 and 1,000 feet in altitude and beginning a climb when it began to pitch/roll and descend rapidly. Several witnesses reported seeing the bucket horizontal to the rotorcraft and also caught up in one of the rotors. The aircraft impacted on its right side intact with the exception of its rotor blades. Two of the three forward rotor blades were found 600-900 feet from the ground impact site. The third forward rotor blade, which was broken in half, was found with its outboard section at the ground impact site and the inboard half approximately 100 feet away. All three aft rotor blades were found in close proximity to one another and approximately 400 feet distant from the primary ground impact site. All six blades separated from their root sections in about the same place and a post crash fire destroyed much of the rotorcraft. Post crash examination established control continuity from the cockpit area through the control closet and on to all the associated hydraulic actuators as well as the continuity of the entire synchronization drive shafting. Examination and disassembly of all major components revealed no evidence of any fatigue propagation, disconnects, or characteristics of other time dependent failure mechanisms. All hydraulic actuators underwent an X-ray examination and disassembly and there was no evidence of any blockage or jamming within any of the actuators. The engines were examined and disassembled and the gas generator speed range for both was determined to be between 64.3% and 69.7%, or about 10% above ground idle. There was evidence that the long line cable encountered/impacted the nose gear strut, as well as an aft strut, the forward left side of the fuselage, the forward rotor head rain shield and all three forward rotor blades. It could not be determined whether the cable to rotor interaction was an initiating event or the result of a previous occurrence which allowed the cable to become entangled with the forward rotor blades. The PIC had more than 1630 hours of V-107 rotorcraft time of which more than 670 hours were logged as PIC time. The co-pilot had more than 150 hours of V-107 rotorcraft time none of which was PIC time.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of control during cruise/climb flight for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/31/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 905 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Emigrant |
| Event State | MONTANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 59065 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 451924N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1104354W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| 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 | 853 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 13 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LVM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4656 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| 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) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.96 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13122 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA SEA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 31 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 845 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 21 2003 4:11PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Hillsboro FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N186CH |
| NTSB Number | SEA01MA163 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Kawasaki |
| Aircraft Model | KV-107-II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4005 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 22000 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 30 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0.3 |
| Airframe Hours | 41559 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Columbia Helicopters Leasing, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO BOX 3500 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Portland |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97208 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Columbia Helicopters, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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 | CHIL |
| 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) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Emigrant |
| Departure State | MT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 845 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2003 10:39AM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| 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 | -- |