Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Monmouth, Oregon 97361
Tuesady, November 18, 2003 14:52 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was conducting long-line operations (utilizing a 50 foot long-line) in support of a Christmas tree harvest when the accident occurred. The pilot reported he was hovering, into the wind, over the "drop off point" when he heard a loud noise emanating from the rear of the helicopter. He described that the helicopter "instantly" began to rotate around its vertical axis and shortly after jettisoning the load the helicopter impacted terrain. During the post accident examination of the wreckage it was noted that the tail rotor blades and tail rotor gearbox were separated from the helicopters tail assembly. The tail rotor gearbox and one of the tail rotor blades was later located in a ditch near the accident site. The second tail rotor blade was located underneath a conifer tree approximately 100 feet east of the wreckage. Examination of the fractured tail rotor revealed that the blade fractured as a result of fatigue. The fatigue crack had multiple origins on the inside surface of the skin near the outboard end of the butt block (approximately 7.6 inches from the inboard end and 1.38-1.6 inches from the leading edge). Several of the origins were in pitted areas measuring no deeper than .00033 inches. Logbook records indicated that the tail rotor blade had accumulated approximately 1,723 hours since new. The life limit for the tail rotor blade is 2,500 hours
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fatigue failure of a tail rotor blade during hover operations.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/18/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1452 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Monmouth |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97361 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 445000N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1231400W |
| 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 | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 10 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17056 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 18 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1530 |
| 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 | Portland, Oregon |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7825S |
| NTSB Number | SEA04LA018 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| 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 | 47G-3B-2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 6688 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3250 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 27 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 97 |
| Airframe Hours | 11774 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FARM AND FOREST HELICOPTER SERVICE INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 404 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Napavine |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98565 |
| 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 | GJDL |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Monmouth |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1430 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Monmouth |
| Destination State | OR |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover - out of ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 27 2004 1:25PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |