Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Eugene Is. 27, -- 00000
Sunday, November 16, 2003 10:35 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter, which had a FADEC controlled turboshaft engine installed, experienced a loss of engine power after take off from an offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The 10,000-hour commercial rated helicopter pilot, reported that the helicopter "cleared" the platform deck and entered translational lift when "it lurched violently to the left and started a rapid descent." The pilot then lowered the collective and dropped the nose to avoid striking the platform. He recalled hearing a "screaming or screeching type of sound" as the helicopter descended, and was not able to maintain main rotor RPM. The helicopter landed into the water, and rolled to the right. After the occupants evacuated, the helicopter submerged 30 feet under the surface. The skid mounted float system was not activated, although the pilot stated that the floats were "armed" and that he attempted to deploy the floats while in the autorotation, via the float activation button that was mounted on the collective. The float activation button was located within a circular ring that was mounted on the pilot's collective. Download of the Incident Recorder (IR) of the ECU showed that the IR was first triggered by a droop in rotor RPM, followed by a MGT exceedence, power surge, engine flameout, and Ng underspeed in a span of 3.38 seconds. Download of the MGT instrument showed a recorded peak temperature of 953 degrees for 1 second. Teardown examination of the engine revealed a catastrophic failure of the power turbine assembly. Metallurgical examinations by the NTSB and Rolls Royce revealed evidence that the 3rd stage turbine wheel airfoil(s) had failed. A root cause of the failure was not determined, and further testing was conducted at Rolls Royce. As a result of some of the dynamic test results, Rolls Royce issued several Commercial Engine Bulletins (CEBs) regarding inspection of in-service turbine assemblies. Additionally, Bell Helicopter issued an Alert Service Bulletin (ASB), which introduced flight manual revisions to avoid power turbine RPM (Np) steady state operation between 68% and 97%. After examinations of the airframe (fuel system, rotor systems, flight control systems, drive systems, electronic control systems), no anomalies were found other than within the power turbine assembly.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power due to the failure of the 3rd stage turbine wheel and subsequent catastrophic failure of the turbine assembly.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 11/16/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1035 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Eugene Is. 27 |
| Event State | GULF OF MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00000 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 292120N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0914641W |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | 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) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.09 |
| 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) | 18115 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 16 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1537 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 13 2005 12:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N405PH |
| NTSB Number | FTW04IA023 |
| 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 | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 407 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 53207 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5250 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 1 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 124 |
| Airframe Hours | 4606 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Petroleum Helicopters Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 90808 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lafayette |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 78909 |
| 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 | HEEA |
| 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 | NONE |
| Departure City | EI 27 |
| Departure State | GM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | NONE |
| Destination City | EI 63 |
| Destination State | GM |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 2 2005 3:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |