Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Antonio, Texas 78214
Tuesady, October 15, 2002 20:10 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The purpose of the flight was to provide night VFR cross-country navigation instruction to the student. The certified flight instructor (CFI) and student discussed the low fuel status while over flying one of the en route airports; however, elected to not refuel because neither pilot had a credit card. Subsequently, the helicopter's amber colored low fuel warning light illuminated, and a few minutes later the engine lost total power. An autorotation was performed, during which the helicopter impacted trees and landed hard. The CFI stated that a flight navigation log sheet was not used for the flight; however, during his preflight planning he estimated that the fuel burn rate was 10 gallons per hour at a cruise airspeed of 85 knots, and that the total fight time was going to be 90 minutes. According to an FAA inspector the normal plan cruise airspeed for this helicopter is 70 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the flight instructor's failure to refuel at an available airport when a low fuel status was identified. Factors were the flight instructor's inadequate preflight flight planning, which included improper fuel consumption calculations, the night light conditions, and the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/15/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 2010 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | San Antonio |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 78214 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | -- |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | -- |
| Event Location Latitude | 292013N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0982816W |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| 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 | 1953 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SAT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 809 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 10 |
| 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) | 30.03 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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) | 13344 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 15 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2116 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 13 2003 12:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | San Antonio, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N61463 |
| NTSB Number | FTW03LA013 |
| 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 | Schweizer |
| Aircraft Model | 269C-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0003 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1750 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3238 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Stinson Flight Center LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 8603 Mission Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Antonio |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 78214 |
| 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 | JL6S |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SSF |
| Departure City | San Antonio |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1845 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SSF |
| Destination City | San Antonio |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 25 2003 6:13PM |
| 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 | -- |