Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Grand Canyon West Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Grandcanyonwest, Arizona 86401
Saturday, September 20, 2003 12:38 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm. The Aircraft Accident Brief number is NTSB/AAB-07/03.
On September 20, 2003, about 1238 mountain standard time, an Aerospatiale AS350BA helicopter, N270SH, operated by Sundance Helicopters, Inc., crashed into a canyon wall while maneuvering through Descent Canyon, about 1.5 nautical miles east of Grand Canyon West Airport (1G4) in Arizona. The pilot and all six passengers on board were killed, and the helicopter was destroyed by impact forces and postcrash fire. The air tour sightseeing flight was operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which was operated under visual flight rules on a company flight plan. The helicopter was transporting passengers from a helipad at 1G4 (helipad elevation 4,775 feet mean sea level [msl]) near the upper rim of the Grand Canyon to a helipad designated "the Beach" (elevation 1,300 msl) located next to the Colorado River at the floor of the Grand Canyon.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's disregard of safe flying procedures and misjudgment of the helicopter's proximity to terrain, which resulted in an in-flight collision with a canyon wall. Contributing to the accident was the failure of Sundance Helicopters and the Federal Aviation Administration to provide adequate surveillance of Sundance's air tour operations in Descent Canyon.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/20/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1238 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | GrandCanyonWest |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 86401 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 355906N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1134736W |
| Event Location Airport | Grand Canyon West |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 1G4 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 268 |
| Airport Elevation | 4825 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1254 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 177 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | IGM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3449 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 44 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 350 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 14 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.96 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 7 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21395 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 20 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1340 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 14 2007 10:28AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | AAI-100 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N270SH |
| NTSB Number | LAX03MA292 |
| 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 | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | AS350BA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1864 |
| 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 | Sep 3 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 95 |
| Airframe Hours | 10892 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Sundance Helicopters, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5596 Haven Street |
| Aircraft Owner City | Las Vegas |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89119 |
| 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 | 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 1G4 |
| Departure City | GrandCanyonWest |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1237 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | NONE |
| Destination City | Descent Canyon |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 6 2006 1:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | RICJ |
| 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 | -- |