Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Burtonsville, Maryland 20866
Sunday, September 15, 2002 14:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About one minute after liftoff, on the helicopters first flight after an annual inspection, the pilot experienced a sudden shuttering of the fuselage, followed by a chip detector light and a loss of directional control. The helicopter began to turn to the left, and would not respond to anti-torque pedal input. As the helicopter neared the heliport, "everything in the cockpit lit up," and the pilot observed the rotor tachometer decrease below 96 percent. The engine then lost total power, and the pilot performed a forced landing to a reservoir. As the helicopter neared the water, the engine "ignited" again, and the helicopter began to rotate to the right. The pilot set the helicopter down on the water, where it rolled to the right, and sank. According to a manufacturer's report of the examination, no abnormalities were noted with the engine or its related components. Damage to the tailrotor drive system was consistent with sudden stoppage or gradual binding of the tailrotor gearbox. Review of the helicopters maintenance records revealed that the tailrotor swash-plate assembly, the tailrotor pitch bearings on both blades, and the tailrotor bellcrank bearing at the swash-plate, were replaced during an annual inspection completed 2 days prior to the accident; however, the component history of the tailrotor gearbox could not be determined.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the tailrotor gearbox for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/15/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1445 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Burtonsville |
| Event State | MARYLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 20866 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 390740N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0765259W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NONE |
| 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 | 1454 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 40 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BWI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 146 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.1 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15365 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 16 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 514 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 28 2004 3:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FSDO-07 Baltimore, MD |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N336SP |
| NTSB Number | NYC02LA192 |
| 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 | Hughes |
| Aircraft Model | 369A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 67-0068 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2100 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 13 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0.6 |
| Airframe Hours | 4406 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Killian Cable Contracting Co. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Washington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20011 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | Burtonsville |
| Departure State | MD |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| 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 - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 16 2004 11:23AM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |