Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Nipton, California 92364
Saturday, September 7, 2002 4:30 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

At 0401, in dark night conditions, the helicopter departed its hospital base en route to an automobile accident. At 0414 the flight crew informed the ambulance crew at the accident site that they were 16 minutes out. At 0416 the flight crew made a radio call to company dispatch informing them that operations were normal. At 0420 the flight crew contacted the ambulance crew a second time and informed them that they were 3 minutes out. At 0427 company dispatch personnel made two attempts to contact the flight crew, both of which were unsuccessful. After passing over an interstate highway, the helicopter impacted terrain in a near 45 degree nose low attitude. Two witnesses observed the helicopter flying low and slow, one estimating between 150 to 200 feet, and shining its searchlight before hitting the ground. Another witness reported seeing a very strong light sweeping across the ground from side to side and traveling at a very low height, comparing it to a police helicopter hovering low when searching, and said the helicopter appeared to be trying to land. Examination of the accident site revealed evidence of a main rotor blade separation with a debris field consisting of main rotor blade skin, honeycomb, and paint chips located 938 feet upstream of the main impact crater. Post-accident examination of the helicopter's component parts, including the main rotor blades, failed to reveal the cause for the main rotor blade separation. Examination of the aircraft's engines revealed no pre-impact anomalies.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The main rotor blade separation while maneuvering for unknown reasons. A factor was the dark night condition.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/7/2002
Event Day of the Week Saturday
Time of Event 430
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City Nipton
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 92364
Event Date Year 2002
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 353215N
Event Location Longitude 1152501W
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 356 Pacific Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 5
Weather Observation Facility ID LAS
Elevation of weather observation facility 2181
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 42
Time Zone of the weather observation PDT
Lighting Conditions Night/Dark
Lowest Ceiling Height 10800
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 7300
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Scattered
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 24
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 12
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 200
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 7
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.79
Density Altitude (feet) 4956
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Fatal
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal 3
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All 3
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 15199
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Sep 7 2002 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 700
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 Las Vegas, Nevada

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N417MA
NTSB Number LAX02FA276
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed VFR
Flight plan Was Activated? Yes
Damage Destroyed
Aircraft Fire Ground
Aircraft Explosion Ground
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Bell
Aircraft Model 222U
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 47527
Certified Max Gross Weight 8250
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 6
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection AAIP
Date of Last Inspection Sep 5 2002 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 0.5
Airframe Hours 6432.3
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Wells Fargo Bank Northwest
Aircraft Owner Street Address 79 South Main Street
Aircraft Owner City Salt Lake City
Aircraft Owner State UT
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 84111
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Mercy Air Service Inc
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 1670 Miro Way
Operator City Rialto
Operator State CA
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 92376
Operator Code M89A
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) Other Work Use
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code --
Departure City Pahrump
Departure State NV
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 401
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code --
Destination City Baker
Destination State CA
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Maneuvering
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Jan 26 2004 5:43PM
User who most recently changed record STAM
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 Yes
Medical Flight --