Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chico, California 95928
Thursday, March 28, 2002 17:31 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While en route to the helicopter base, the pilot detected a left yaw, followed by a low main rotor speed warning. After he lowered the collective, the main rotor light went out. He glanced at the N1 gage (gas producer tachometer) and noted it at 70 percent and decreasing. No other warning lights were visible on the caution panel. An autorotation was performed to a field and the helicopter touched down hard. During the landing, the main rotor flexed downward and severed the tail boom. The engine was running at idle after the landing and the pilot performed a manual shutdown. An engine examination did not reveal any evidence of preimpact failures. The operator reported that pilots were trained annually on emergency procedures through oral and flight testing. It had been over a year since the pilot's last emergency training. Department pilots were not allowed to practice autorotations without the Chief Pilot on board, or prior written approval. The pilot had not practiced an autorotation in over 1 year prior to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the loss of engine power for an undetermined reason. Factors in the accident were the pilot's misjudged flare resulting in a hard landing and the lack of recent experience in emergency procedures by the pilot.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/28/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1731 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Chico |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95928 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 394743N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1215131W |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1750 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KCIC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 238 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 100 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.88 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15548 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 28 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2225 |
| 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 | AWP-FSDO-Sacramento |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N487BC |
| NTSB Number | LAX02TA118 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | OH-58A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 70-15107 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 28 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 7.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 4728.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Butte County Sheriff's Dept. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 33 County Center Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | Oroville |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95965 |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | CIC |
| Departure City | Chico |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1632 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| 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 | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 16 2004 5:56PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |