Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ship Shoal 80, -- 00000
Tuesady, July 8, 2003 11:47 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that upon arriving at Ship Shoal 80 (SS-80) platform located in the Gulf of Mexico, he performed a fly-by and then proceeded to circle the platform to the right, so one of the passengers could take aerial photographs of another helicopter on the helipad. The pilot further reported that he setup for an approach from the north of the platform and came to a hover 4 to 5 feet above the helicopter-deck to see if there was enough room to land. After accessing the situation, he started to "slide to the left" and ascend. Subsequently, he "heard and felt a bang from the rear of the aircraft, followed by the low rotor rpm horn." Continuing his "slide to the left" to move away from the platform, he lowered the nose to gain forward airspeed. During the descent, he informed the passengers that they were going down and deployed the emergency floats. The pilot stated that the landing "was soft onto the water, and was stable upon touchdown." After shutdown of the helicopter, he initiated an evacuation onto an inflatable life raft. Examination of the helicopter after the accident revealed that the tips of all three main rotor blades were damaged. Further examination of the blade tips and the platform obstructions revealed that the main rotor tip path plane appeared to have contacted the main rotor blade tie-down sock of a parked/stationary helicopter that was in the proximity to where the accident helicopter was hovering.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance with a parked/stationary aircraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/8/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1147 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Ship Shoal 80 |
| Event State | GULF OF MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00000 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 285503N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0911801W |
| 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 | 1500 |
| 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) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 31 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| 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) | 30.1 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14923 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 8 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1245 |
| 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 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N162TA |
| NTSB Number | FTW03LA186 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Eurocopter |
| Aircraft Model | EC120B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3780 |
| 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 | Jun 29 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5 |
| Airframe Hours | 2414 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | General Electric Capital Corp. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 16479 Dallas Parkway, Suite 300 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Addison |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75001 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | TEXAIR HELICOPTERS INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 8919 Paul B Koonce ST |
| Operator City | Houston |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 77061 |
| Operator Code | TXEA |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | VM-22 |
| Departure State | GM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1030 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Ship Shoal 80 |
| Destination State | GM |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 31 2003 10:31AM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |