Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Temple Bar, Arizona 89005
Saturday, July 5, 2003 15:50 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter landed hard, bounced back into the air, rotated 90 degrees to the left, and struck the ground a second time before rolling onto its right side. While in cruise at 3,500 feet msl, the tour helicopter pilot experienced a "hot battery" light indication on the instrument panel. The pilot made two radio calls, but, during the response, the helicopter experienced a complete electrical failure. The pilot elected to make an immediate landing on the shoreline of Lake Mead. At 100 feet agl, the pilot reported a change in the sound of the engine. Believing that he had an unreliable engine, the pilot entered an autorotation. While in the deceleration flair, the tail rotor stinger and tail rotor blades made contact with the soft sand. The pilot leveled the helicopter, but made a hard landing. The pilot indicated that after the helicopter came to rest, he could still hear the engine operating. He activated the fuel shutoff lever to shutdown the engine. A test run of the engine revealed no abnormalities. The pilot did not follow the emergency procedures as published in the AS350BA flight manual. Paragraph 2 describes an autorotation landing; it said to resume a level attitude before touchdown, and cancel any sideslip tendency. The aircraft flight manual states that the 150 amp generator is capable of sustaining the aircraft's electrical load. The emergency checklist identifies that if the battery is isolated from the d.c. curcuit, the pilot is to "keep a watch on voltage, continue flight, according to circumstances." The emergency procedures for a battery temperature light as explained in section 3.3 of the flight manual for the AS350BA is; "Isolate the battery (push button "OFF") and land as soon as possible."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to follow the published electrical system emergency procedures for a hot battery, and his misjudged landing flare during the terminal phase of the autorotation maneuver at low level.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/5/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1550 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Temple Bar |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89005 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 360355N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1142737W |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1556 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LAS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2492 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 40 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 42 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 80 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 15 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.73 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 4799 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16130 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 5 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1640 |
| 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-LAS-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2273A |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA225 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | American Eurocopter |
| Aircraft Model | AS350BA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2273 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4630 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 16 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 59 |
| Airframe Hours | 5845.8 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SDH Capital Holdings LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5596 Haven St. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Las Vegas |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89119 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Sundance Helicopters Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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 | KBMA |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | LAS |
| Departure City | Las Vegas |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1525 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Quarter Master |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 29 2004 5:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |