Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fritch, Texas 79036
Sunday, December 22, 2002 14:45 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was damaged during a forced landing after a loss of engine power while in cruise flight. The 14,700-hour pilot stated that at 5,100 feet MSL, the generator warning light illuminated. The pilot switched the generator "OFF" and back "ON" in an attempt to reset it, and was unable to reset the generator. The pilot then recycled the circuit breaker to try to reset the generator, and was still unable to reset the generator. The pilot pulled the generator circuit breaker and aborted the flight. Approximately 15 minutes after the generator failure, the engine out light illuminated and an audio warning came on, engine and rotor RPM started to decay and the pilot initiated autorotation. The auto re-ignition light illuminated during autorotation, but the engine would not spool back up to normal RPM. The pilot continued with the autorotation to a small clearing. During the final phase of the autorotation the pilot performed a cyclic flare to increase rotor RPM and arrest forward movement. The pilot leveled the helicopter a few feet off the ground and pulled the collective to arrest descent, at that point rotor RPM decayed and the helicopter dropped four feet AGL. The helicopter spun approximately 180 degrees from the original heading and impacted the ground nose first, on a heading of 30 degrees. Examination of the generator revealed that its drive-end bearing had failed. Bearing cage pieces fell out during disassembly. A Pc air leak test was performed and a air was detected emanating from the Pc air tube from the power turbine governor (PTG) to the engine fuel control unit (FCU). The tube was fractured approximately 90% circumferentially just above the coupling nut that attaches the tube to the FCU. A new Pc air tube (same part number) was installed and the engine was operated in a test cell. The engine was operated in accordance with the model 250-C20B Production Test Specifications. With the engine in the standard test configuration, response times were within normal limits and the engine met all performance parameters. Further metallurgical examination of the Pc tube revealed evidence of fatigue.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power due to the failure of the generator input drive-end bearing, which resulted in excessive vibrations that induced a fatigue fracture of the Pc line leading to the engine fuel control unit. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/22/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1445 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Fritch |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 79036 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 354723N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1015821W |
| 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 | 3268 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| 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) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2968 |
| 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) | 15138 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 22 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| 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 | Lubbock, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5234Y |
| NTSB Number | FTW03LA066 |
| 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 | 369E |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0167E |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3000 |
| 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 | Jul 26 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1478 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Amistad Aviation Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 279 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Amistad |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 88410 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | Syracuse |
| Departure State | KS |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | NONE |
| Destination City | Gruver |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 31 2004 12:33PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |