Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Franklin, Louisiana 70538
Monday, May 19, 2003 9:55 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
When approaching a helipad for landing, the pilot realized that the anti-torque pedals were not effective. Due to obstacles, the pilot aborted his approach to the helipad and turned eastbound toward a sugar cane field. Subsequently, the helicopter started to rotate and the pilot realized he had no control of the tail rotor with the anti torque pedals. He then rolled the throttle to idle, and initiated an autorotation from approximately 75 feet AGL. The pilot reported that a high sink rate developed and the helicopter impacted the ground hard on the main landing skids. Inspection of the helicopter revealed that the pivot bolt (P/N: NAS6604D31), bushing (P/N: 206-011-726-005), nut (P/N: MS14144l4), and cotter pin (P/N: MS24665-155), that connects the rotor control idler assembly (P/N: 406-012-127-101) to the tail rotor control housing assembly was not found. Examination of the aircraft logbooks indicated that there was an annual maintenance inspection preformed on the helicopter 7 days hours prior to the accident. The helicopter accumulated 4.9 hours of flight time since time of inspection.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of tail rotor effectiveness due to the inadequate maintenance performed by other company personnel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/19/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 955 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Franklin |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 70538 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 303159N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0910858W |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| 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 | 2000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.96 |
| 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) | 14929 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 20 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 800 |
| 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 | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Baton Rouge FSDO, SW03 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N991SP |
| NTSB Number | FTW03TA156 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 407 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 53518 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5000 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 12 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4.9 |
| Airframe Hours | 203.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Louisiana Department of Public Safety |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 66614 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Baton Rouge |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 70896 |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BTR |
| Departure City | BATON ROUGE |
| Departure State | LA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 900 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Franklin |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 31 2003 10:20AM |
| 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 | -- |