Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
San Carlos Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Carlos, California 94070
Friday, March 28, 2003 16:50 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was returning from a local area photography flight when the engine lost power during the landing flare causing the helicopter to land hard. The pilot stated that he made a long approach towards the departure end of runway 30, he executed a 15-foot flare for landing. The low fuel pressure light illuminated, he verified that the fuel boost pump was on, and as he "rolled the throttle on," the engine "sputtered and went dead." In an attempt to safely land the helicopter the pilot made a hard autorotative landing causing substantial damage. Fueling receipts from Rabbit Aviation Services show that the helicopter was fueled on two separate occasions on the day of the accident. At 1125, 32.9 gallons of fuel were added, and at 1403, 39.4 gallons were added. The Enstrom 280FX has a usable fuel capacity of 40 gallons. At 30 inches of manifold pressure and 78 percent power, the endurance at sea level is 2.0 hours. At 32 inches of manifold pressure and 83 percent power, the endurance is 1.8 hours. The pilot reported taking off at 1445, and the accident occurred about 1650.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's inadequate fuel consumption calculations and his inadequate in-flight planning decision. A factor was the low altitude from which the autorotation was attempted.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/28/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1650 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | San Carlos |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94070 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 373043N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1221458W |
| Event Location Airport | San Carlos |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KSQL |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 5 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1647 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSQL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 20 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 3016 |
| 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) | 16119 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 28 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1715 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 1 2004 7:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO-San Jose |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5698M |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA119 |
| 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 | Enstrom |
| Aircraft Model | F280FX |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2073 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2350 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 14 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 50 |
| Airframe Hours | 1280 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Aircraft Guarantee Title Corp |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 515 N Sam Houston PKWY Ste 305 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Houston |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 77060 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Michael DeBard |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | On File |
| Operator City | San Francisco |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 94133 |
| 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 | KSQL |
| Departure City | San Carlos |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1445 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | KSQL |
| Destination City | San Carlos |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 18 2004 5:44PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 30 |
| Runway Length | 2600 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |