Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Grand Isle 74, -- 00000
Tuesady, January 8, 2002 15:52 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was in cruise flight at an altitude of 1,200 feet msl, 22 miles south of its destination, when the engine lost power. The pilot verified that the engine had failed, made a "May Day" call, initiated an autorotation to the water and inflated the emergency floats. Prior to contact with the water, the pilot pulled all available collective pitch, and the helicopter "impacted in a slight nose low, right banking attitude. During impact the right front float bag ruptured." The helicopter rolled right and remained floating inverted as the pilot egressed. According to an FAA inspector, the pilot reported having a problem determining the helicopter's height above the water. "The weather was VMC with the wind from the southwest at an estimated 10 knots and the seas state displayed wave heights of two to three feet." Examination of the helicopter revealed that the PC air line between the tee for the power turbine governor and the fuel control was found fractured under the "B" nut at the fuel control. An examination of the tube assembly at NTSB Materials Laboratory, revealed fatigue cracking within the flared portion of the tube end. The origin areas were located on the inside surface of the tube, at circumferential scoring marks. The location of the origin areas approximately corresponds to the inside diameter of the fitting ("B" nut) that mates with the flared end. According to the engine maintenance manual, excessive torque on pneumatic sensing system connections results in cracking of the flare or adjacent tube area in contact with the ferrule.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's misjudged landing flare. A contributing factor was the fatigue fracture of the PC air line due to the improper installation by company maintenance personnel, which resulted in a loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/8/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1552 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Grand Isle 74 |
| Event State | GULF OF MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00000 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1650 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 304 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HUM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 10 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 38 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| 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) | 30.28 |
| 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) | 13770 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 8 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1700 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2003 8:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N349AL |
| NTSB Number | FTW02LA064 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 206L-3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 51388 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4150 |
| 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 | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 30 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 28.3 |
| Airframe Hours | 9021.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AIR LOGISTICS LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4605 Industrial Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | New Iberia |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 70560 |
| 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 | ALGA |
| 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 | NONE |
| Departure City | Grand Isle 102 |
| Departure State | GM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1539 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 9LA3 |
| Destination City | FOURCHON |
| Destination State | LA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 12 2003 11:38AM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| 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 | -- |