Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rainier, Washington 98576
Tuesady, June 25, 2002 15:56 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that he was dispatched to Mount Rainier to provide air support for a rescue mission of an injured hiker. Load calculations prepared by the pilot indicated that the helicopter would be operating at the high end of its performance capabilities. The pilot also reported that this was his first time operating on Mount Rainier. After a briefing, the pilot took one climbing guide from one helibase, and then picked up a climbing ranger from another location before proceeding to the site where the injured hiker was located at about the 10,000 to 10,400 foot level. Since the pilot was unfamiliar with the mountain, the guide and ranger also provided assistance to the pilot in where to go. The pilot was to drop off the guide and ranger at about the 9,000 foot level. After flying over the site to survey the ground conditions on the glacier which consisted of crevasses and uneven ground from avalanche debris, and to check helicopter performance, the pilot attempted to land at several locations on the glacier between about 8,000 feet and 9,000 feet. The pilot then chose a location in which he positioned the helicopter nose into the slightly rising terrain. The climbing ranger stated that the landing skid from the aft cross tube forward was on the ground. The terrain from the aft cross tube back sloped down about 5 degrees. After the pilot set the helicopter down slowly on the ground, he used the pedals to test for compaction. The pilot stated that as he was lowering the collective, the helicopter suddenly pitched and he applied forward cyclic and lifted off the ground. The helicopter began to rotate clockwise. The pilot applied left pedal input which did not have any effect. The pilot realized that he had no tail rotor control and lowered the collective and impacted on the glacier with the nose pointing downhill. Both occupants on board the helicopter and one witness located about 500 feet above the accident site reported that after the helicopter set down, it appeared to them that the helicopter slid backwards which lowered the tail and raised the nose of the helicopter. The witness above the accident site stated that he thought that the pilot would have landed perpendicular to the terrain slope so that the skids would not act like skis when weighted and slide downhill. Prior to recovery of the helicopter from the glacier, it was lost in a crevasse and covered by snow and rock fall. The load calculation prepared by the pilot was reviewed after the accident. It was found that for the actual conditions at the accident site, the helicopter was operating from 60 to 285 pounds over its allowable load for hover out of ground effect performance.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control while trying to land. Rough/uneven terrain, inaccurate performance data calculations, inadequate in-flight planning and lack of familiarity with the geographic area were factors.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/25/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1556 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rainier |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98576 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 465252N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1214617W |
| 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 | 1556 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 15 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SMP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3800 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.17 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13429 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 25 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1630 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 2 2009 1:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle, Washington |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1087L |
| NTSB Number | SEA02TA110 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| 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 | 206B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3004 |
| 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 | 4 |
| 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 | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Aero Copters Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 8403 Perimeter Rd S. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Seattle |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98108 |
| 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 | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Camp Schurman |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1540 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Mt. Rainier |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 2 2009 1:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |