Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Santa Fe Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87500
Saturday, December 27, 2003 15:45 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The wind was from "270 degrees at 16 knots with gusts unknown" when the pilot landed on the runway. He then ground taxied towards a maintenance hangar. He described his ground taxi speed as "a fast walk pace." As the helicopter passed between two sets of hangars, "high velocity winds from the left (270 degrees)...lifted the left wheel off the ground." He applied left cyclic control and left tail rotor control that brought the helicopter off centerline to the left. He maneuvered the helicopter and focused on the same corner of the hangar "as I always did" when parking. "As soon as I was starting to use right pedal, the [main rotor] blades impacted the hangar door," and the "torque of the blades pulled the aircraft nose around into the hangar door, causing [the helicopter] to land on its left side."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain lateral clearance from the hangar. A contributing factor was the gusty crosswind.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/27/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1545 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Santa Fe |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 87500 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 353700N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1060517W |
| Event Location Airport | Santa Fe Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SAF |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 6348 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1453 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SAF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6348 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3200 |
| 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) | -2 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 5843 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15122 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA - Southwest Region |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 27 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1649 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 2 2009 1:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Albuquerque, New Mexico |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N291LL |
| NTSB Number | DEN04LA033 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | AS 365 N-2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 6402 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 9370 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 27 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 48 |
| Airframe Hours | 6635 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Business Aircraft Leasing, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 404 BNA Dr., Suite 305 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Nashville |
| Aircraft Owner State | TN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 37217 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Aerowest Helicopters, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. Box 67800 |
| Operator City | Albuquerque |
| Operator State | NM |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 87193 |
| Operator Code | PBKA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | Santa Fe |
| Departure State | NM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1530 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | SAF |
| Destination City | Santa Fe |
| Destination State | MA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi - aerial |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 2 2009 1:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | Yes |
| Medical Flight | -- |