Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
St. Jacob, Illinois 62281
Wednesday, November 20, 2002 14:30 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was substantially damaged when the fan shaft failed causing a loss of power to the main and tail rotors. The instructor pilot reported that while in cruise flight the clutch light flickered several times. He stated that he pulled the clutch circuit breaker, "however the noise continued to worsen and [he] suspected the drive belts were loosening." He reset the clutch circuit breaker and the clutch light illuminated steadily. The instructor pilot reported, "Immediately afterward the engine and rotor RPM needles split indicating a drive train failure, and a loud metal to metal grinding noise began." The flight crew (instructor and dual student) immediately initiated an autorotation. At the termination of the autorotation, the helicopter yawed to the left and did not respond to right pedal inputs. A post-accident examination revealed a complete failure of the fan shaft. The portion of the engine cooling fan assembly aft of the fracture point had departed the aircraft. This component was subsequently found approximately 1.2 miles south of the forced landing site. In addition, the tail rotor blade pitch push-pull tube was completely severed at the forward rod end. Extensive scraping and gouging was noted on the rod end fitting. The fan shaft, fan wheel and bearing were sent to the NTSB Materials Laboratory for examination. The examination noted the fan shaft was fractured in a "V"shape from a transition in shaft diameter adjacent to the bearing at the aft end, forward to the attachment bolt holes. Fracture surface features were "indicative of fatigue propagation." According to the dual student, on the delivery flight one of the drive v-belts broke and an emergency landing under partial power was made. The helicopter was repaired by Robinson technicians who replaced the drive belts and clutch actuator. A visual inspection of the fan shaft and lower bearing was completed at that time and no discrepancies were found. The fan shaft and bearing were not disassembled. Therefore, the mating surfaces of the fan shaft and bearing race were not inspected.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fatigue fracture of the clutch assembly fan shaft and the resulting complete loss of power to the rotor drive system. A contributing factor was the loss of tail rotor authority due to the secondary failure of the control tube assembly.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/20/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1430 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | St. Jacob |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 62281 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 384630N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0894833W |
| 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 | 1453 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 50 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CPS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 413 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| 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) | 15272 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 20 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1841 |
| 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 | FAA -- St. Louis FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N559DD |
| NTSB Number | CHI03FA025 |
| 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 | Robinson |
| Aircraft Model | R22 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3299 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1370 |
| 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 | Feb 15 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 65.7 |
| Airframe Hours | 72.6 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Helicopter Operation Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 10763 Forest Circle |
| Aircraft Owner City | St. Louis |
| Aircraft Owner State | MO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 63128 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CPS |
| Departure City | Cahokia/St. Lou |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| 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 | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2004 12:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |