Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lorida, Florida 33857
Tuesady, July 16, 2002 9:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated he was making a spray turn at the south end of a grove and when he started to initiate the turn and pull a little power, he heard a noise, not a real loud boom, just a noise. The helicopter yawed a little bit and lost all lift. It just fell straight down. He didn't have time to look at instruments or anything, it just came straight down like a rock. The ground crew for the spray operation stated they had just refueled the helicopter and put chemical in the tank prior to the pilot departing. A short time later they heard the pilot call on the radio that he had crashed. They went searching and found the helicopter and pilot at the south end of the grove. As they approached the helicopter, the main rotor was still turning and the engine was still running. The pilot was still in the cockpit. They attempted to shut down the engine with the cockpit controls but they were jammed. They then went to the engine compartment and shut the engine off with the fuel control lever. The pilot reported to them that he was attempting to come out of a turn and the engine lost power and the helicopter went down. One of the ground crewmembers reported that the pilot stated during the previous servicing stop that the engine was running hot and losing power. Post accident examination of the engine fuel control showed the pump drive clutch assembly was fractured into two pieces. According to the technician performing the disassembly this resulted in disengagement from the N1 flyweight assembly. The N1 flyweight assembly drives the N1 servo system during normal fuel control operation. The N1 servo assembly determines the amount of fuel supplied to the engine based on the speed at which it is driven. With the N1 servo system effectively disengaged from the fuel control, the system would remain in the start position and the amount of fuel supplied would not be enough to sustain normal engine operation. The technician further stated the pump drive clutch, the mating surface on the flyweight assembly and the bearing located below the drive clutch exhibit excessive wear. The failure of the pump drive clutch can be attributed to this wear. This type of wear occurs over an extended period of operation and is not usually caused by one incident or a sudden impact.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's continued operation with known engine anomalies resulting in loss of engine power due to failure of the engine fuel control pump drive clutch assembly due to wear and collision with the terrain during the resultant descent.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/16/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Lorida |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 33857 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 271836N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0810642W |
| 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 | 953 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 60 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VRB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 25 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 40 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 25 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.12 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1300 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15219 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Highlands County Sheriff |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 16 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 956 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 30 2004 8:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Orlando |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N91281 |
| NTSB Number | MIA02LA133 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| 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 | UH-1B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 63-8535 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 8500 |
| 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 | Jul 14 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 6 |
| Airframe Hours | 3025 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Colony Services, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P. O. Box 1589 |
| Aircraft Owner City | LaBelle |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33975 |
| 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 | COOG |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Lorida |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 925 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| 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 | Descent - emergency |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 20 2004 11:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |