Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gulf Of Mexico, -- 00000
Saturday, June 29, 2002 10:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After landing on the offshore platform, the pilot positioned the helicopter into the prevailing headwind and initiated engine shutdown procedures. The pilot reported that the wind at this time was from the southeast at 15 to 20 knots, and the rain remained about 2 miles southeast of the platform. The pilot further stated that within seconds after shutting down the engine "the wind picked up to 50-60 knots, while the rain was still about 1-2 miles away." The pilot added that he applied the rotor brake after the rotor had slowed to 35-40 percent; however, the rotor brake did not appeared to have any effect in slowing down the rotor system. As the rotor system was buffeted by strong wind, the rotor system became unbalanced and eventually struck the tail boom approximately 2 feet forward of the tail rotor gear box.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain proper rotor RPM during engine shutdown due to high wind conditions, which resulted in the main rotor blades contacting the tailboom. A contributing factor was the gusty wind conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/29/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1000 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Gulf of Mexico |
| Event State | GULF OF MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00000 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 281205N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0953805W |
| 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 | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Partial Obscuration |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 135 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 50 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 60 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.01 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Moderate |
| 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) | 13990 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA, Houston FSDO. |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 3 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1530 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 30 2003 9:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | HOUSTON, TEXAS |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N255EV |
| NTSB Number | FTW02LA200 |
| 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 | 206L3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 895089 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 5 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 60 |
| Airframe Hours | 9773.8 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | EVERGREEN EQUITY INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3850 THREE MILE LANE |
| Aircraft Owner City | MC.MINNVILLE |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97128 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | EVERGREEN HELICOPTERS INTERNATIONAL INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2001 TERMINAL DRIVE |
| Operator City | GALVESTON |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 77554 |
| Operator Code | EGIA |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Gulf of Mexico |
| Departure State | GM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 950 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Standing - idling rotors |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 29 2003 11:45AM |
| 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 | -- |