Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Three Rivers, Michigan 49093
Saturday, July 6, 2002 9:45 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter sustained substantial damage during an emergency landing after liftoff. The pilot reported that a normal takeoff was made to the southwest, and upon reaching an altitude of 75 feet, he began a turn to the south and noticed that the aircraft was not responding to the turn. When the helicopter began to accelerate forward it started to spin to the right and the tail rotor lost all effectiveness. The helicopter spun 3 and 1/2 revolutions and the pilot then maneuvered it to an open pasture for the emergency landing. He lowered the collective bringing the aircraft to the ground for a level touchdown with no forward motion. The pilot stated that a local airport reported a wind from the southeast at 4 knots, and prior to the departure the wind was "non existent." No anomalies were found with the helicopter or its flight control systems that were determined to exist prior to impact. According to the FAA, a loss of tail rotor effectiveness (LTE) is "not related to an equipment or maintenance malfunction and may occur in all single-rotor helicopters at airspeeds less than 30 knots. It is the result of the tail rotor not providing adequate thrust to maintain directional control, and is usually caused by either certain wind azimuths (directions) while hovering, or by an insufficient tail rotor thrust for a given power setting at higher altitudes."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of tail rotor effectiveness.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/6/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 945 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Three Rivers |
| Event State | MICHIGAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 49093 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| 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 | 957 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 147 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | IRS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 925 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 18 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1457 |
| 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) | 12966 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 6 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1117 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 18 2003 4:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Federal Aviation Administration SBN FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N60EA |
| NTSB Number | CHI02LA181 |
| 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 | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 206B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2068 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | Jul 1 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 20 |
| Airframe Hours | 7300 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Phoenix Precision Air LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 18898 Hoshel Rd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Three Rivers |
| Aircraft Owner State | MI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 49093 |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Three Rivers |
| Departure State | MI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 945 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GSH |
| Destination City | Goshen |
| Destination State | IN |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing after takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 30 2003 9:42AM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| 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 | -- |