Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Clyde, Texas 79601
Thursday, February 20, 2003 16:00 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a repositioning flight, the helicopter landed hard after the pilot encountered instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). Prior to departure, the pilot checked the weather for a flight to pick up a patient at another hospital. At the time of the departure, the pilot stated the ceiling was at 1,100 feet and the visibility was 7 miles. Shortly after departure, the weather started to deteriorate and the helicopter encountered IMC. The flight paramedic stated the weather deteriorated rapidly while enroute and requested more than once for the pilot to abort the flight. Prior to reversing direction, the pilot slowed the helicopter and initiated a descent. The pilot was unaware of the descent rate and was unable to slow the descent prior to impacting the terrain. Subsequently, the helicopter landed hard and came to rest upright on a roadway.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's delayed remedial action and his continued flight into known adverse weather conditions. A contributing factor was the excessive descent rate which resulted in a hard landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/20/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1600 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Clyde |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 79601 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 322440N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0994054W |
| 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 | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1600 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ABI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1991 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 900 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 8 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 40 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.99 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14914 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Lubbock FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 20 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1630 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 2 2004 8:07AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Lubbock, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N439AE |
| NTSB Number | FTW03LA112 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | AS-350-B3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3408 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4961 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 20 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 69.5 |
| Airframe Hours | 499.5 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Enchantment Aviation Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 640 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fairacres |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 88033 |
| 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 | NE6A |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ABI |
| Departure City | Abilene |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1556 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Eastland |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 7 2004 9:15AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\HAMG |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | Yes |
| Medical Flight | Discretionary |