Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Escondido, California 92026
Sunday, November 4, 2001 18:00 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter collided with trees in an avocado grove and then terrain. The helicopter was believed to have departed a nearby airport, about 15 minutes prior to the accident on November 4, 2001, for a flight to the accident location. Farm workers found the wreckage on the morning of November 6, 2001. The wreckage was about 100 yards from a landing pad on the pilot's property, which was about 10 miles from departure airport. The elevation of the pad was about 1,600 feet. A certified flight instructor (CFI) at the departure airport saw the pilot preparing the helicopter for flight about 1715 on November 4. The CFI said the visibility was 4 miles with haze and going down. The automated surface observation station indicated that skies were clear at 1714 with 4 miles visibility and mist; the field elevation was 28 feet. The temperature/dew point spread was less than 3 degrees. By 1745, there were broken clouds at 1,000 feet; the visibility and temperature/dewpoint spread had not changed. The pilot always approached the landing pad, which was unlit, from the northeast. Investigators did not discover any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation of the helicopter or engine. Sunset occurred at 1659, civil twilight occurred at 1724, and nautical twilight occurred at 1753. The helicopter did not have an artificial horizon. The instrument panel had a placard indicating that the pilot must have sufficient illumination to operate by outside light sources. The Pilot Operating Handbook had the limitation that the pilot must maintain orientation at night by lights on the ground or by adequate celestial illumination.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain an adequate clearance from obstacles while approaching to land at his private helipad. Factors in the accident were night conditions, inadequate illumination of the landing pad, and a likely low visibility condition due to fog.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/4/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1800 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | ESCONDIDO |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92026 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 331107N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1170737W |
| 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 | 1745 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OKB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 28 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 4 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.99 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15532 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 6 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1039 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 3 2004 1:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAN-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7197Y |
| NTSB Number | LAX02FA020 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Robinson |
| Aircraft Model | R-22 BETA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3247 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1370 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 10 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DANIEL S. ERICKSON |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | ESCONDIDO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92026 |
| 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 | None |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | L32 |
| Departure City | OCEANSIDE |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1745 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Escondido |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 16 2004 1:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |