Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Kahoolawe, Hawaii 96784
Thursday, May 22, 2003 11:50 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial helicopter had delivered an external load, and was returning to another site with a 41-foot, unweighted external load cable still attached under the helicopter. A witness saw the helicopter overhead, and watched as the cable slapped the fuselage, and became entangled with the tail rotor. The tail rotor subsequently separated from the tail boom, and the helicopter rolled nearly inverted and crashed. Examination of the wreckage revealed cable witness marks on the tail boom and tail rotor blades. The commercial pilot had extensive flying experience conducting external load operations. The operator indicated it was not their standard procedure to have an unweighted cable attached to the helicopter for transition flights.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to remove the external load cable before the repositioning flight, which resulted in the cable striking the tail rotor in cruise flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/22/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1150 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | Kahoolawe |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96784 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 203412N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1563800W |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1154 Hawaii Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 20 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OGG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 54 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | HST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3800 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2200 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 30 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 18 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 23 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16934 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 22 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1240 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 28 2004 12:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | HNL FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3280U |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA160 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | UH-1H |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 66-16904 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 9500 |
| 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 | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 6 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 144 |
| Airframe Hours | 11368.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Pacific Helicopter Tours, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Kahului Heliport Hangar #109 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Kahului |
| Aircraft Owner State | HI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 96732 |
| 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 | DBZL |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | External Load |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Kahoolawe |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Puunene |
| Destination State | HI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 27 2004 12:48PM |
| User who most recently changed record | LABJ |
| 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 | -- |