Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Medicine Bow, Wyoming 82329
Monday, June 10, 2002 9:30 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that he was conducting pipeline patrol and marking the positions of pipeline valves using a global positioning satellite receiver. The pilot said weather was clear but windy. Approximately 1 hour into the flight, the pilot made a turn to the west to come around over a location, and continued in the turn back to the east downwind. The pilot said he rolled out of the turn and started to pull some power for the turn back to the right to pick up the pipeline again when the helicopter yawed right and started losing power. The pilot said he immediately "lowered the collective, added throttle, and turned left to the north." The pilot said he was approximately 100 feet above the ground and had an airspeed of about 60 miles per hour. "With the bank and the autorotation I was able to stop forward motion and ground speed. I flared the helicopter, pulled pitch, and hit flat." The pilot said he shut down the engine after impact. "As far as I could tell the power never came back during the autorotation." An examination of the helicopter's fuel system showed water in the left and right fuel tanks. No other anomalies were found.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the unsuitable terrain encountered during the emergency autorotation, following a partial loss of engine power. Factors contributing to this accident were fuel contamination (water), the low altitude, the high winds, and the tailwind.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/10/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Medicine Bow |
| Event State | WYOMING |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 82329 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 414400N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1061200W |
| 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 | 856 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 120 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LAR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 7278 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 36 |
| 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) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 340 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 14 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.98 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 8222 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12512 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 10 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2016 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2002 3:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Casper, WY FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5694Z |
| NTSB Number | DEN02LA051 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Enstrom |
| Aircraft Model | F-28C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 497-2 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2350 |
| 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 | May 10 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 148 |
| Airframe Hours | 1999.9 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Timothy C. Rhoads |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 10998 540 Loop |
| Aircraft Owner City | Logan |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 88426 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Falcon Helicopter, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 5264 Weld County Road 16 3/4 |
| Operator City | Longmont |
| Operator State | D |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 80504 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | LAR |
| Departure City | Laramie |
| Departure State | WY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 830 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | RWL |
| Destination City | Rawlins |
| Destination State | WY |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering - turn to reverse direction |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 29 2002 10:52AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| 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 | -- |