Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hortense, Georgia 31543
Thursday, March 28, 2002 10:00 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, he was 100 feet in the air, at 40 knots, when he heard a bang in the tail section of the helicopter and thought he felt something break loose on the helicopter. There was an immediate loss of power to the main rotor system. The pilot attempted to flare the helicopter as it went into the trees. The helicopter impacted trees at approximately 30 knots, sustaining substantial damage. Examination of the helicopter revealed that the short shaft connecting the engine to the main gear box separated just aft of the connecting flange. Examination of the mounting hardware revealed that the connecting bolts had not been safety wired at the time of the accident. Examination of the helicopters maintenance records and an interview with the helicopter mechanic found that the helicopter had undergone a 400 hour inspection about two days prior to the accident or 10 hours of operation. The mechanic confirmed that he had removed and reinstalled the short shaft prior to the accident but could not recall if he had safety wired the connecting bolts as called for in the helicopters maintenance manual.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the engine to main transmission drive shaft due to improper installation by company maintenance personnel. A factor were the trees.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/28/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1000 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Hortense |
| Event State | GEORGIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 31543 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 312102N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0814905W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BQK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1600 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 90 |
| 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 | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12657 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Faa Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 28 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1125 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 25 2003 9:38AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Atlanta FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N49525 |
| NTSB Number | ATL02LA067 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | AS315B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2492 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4300 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 26 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 9.6 |
| Airframe Hours | 13445.5 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Roberts Aircraft Company |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 1 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Granite Canyon |
| Aircraft Owner State | WY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 82059 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Southern States Cooperative Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 971 East Golden Road |
| Operator City | Tifton |
| Operator State | GA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 31793 |
| Operator Code | Z1SG |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Hortense |
| Departure State | GA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| 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 | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 21 2002 2:53PM |
| User who most recently changed record | POWP |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |