Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Chester Fire Base Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chester, California 96020
Monday, May 24, 2004 20:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter's main rotor blade made contact with the upper wire cutter device during an attempted landing on a sloped landing zone. Upon arriving at the landing zone, the pilot selected an area to land clear from other aircraft and began the descent toward rough terrain with a slope of about 8 to 9 degrees. As the helicopter settled onto the skids, the nose pitched upward and the helicopter slid backward. The pilot quickly increased the collective and moved the cyclic forward in an effort to reestablish the hover. The helicopter began to stabilize in the hover and the pilot felt a shudder and heard a corresponding thump sound. The pilot landed in a different area and noted that it appeared that a portion of the skid had dug into the terrain. A main rotor blade had impacted the upper wire cutter device, leaving the blade damaged beyond repair. The owner reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's excessive use of the cyclic and collective controls in response to the helicopter's unexpected rocking motion, which led to a main rotor contact with the upper wire cutter mounted on the cabin roof. A factor in the accident was the rough, sloping nature of the landing zone chosen for the firebase.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/24/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 2030 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Chester |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96020 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 401823N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1211351W |
| Event Location Airport | Chester Fire Base |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| 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 | 4526 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RBL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| 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) | 29.8 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17996 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 25 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 7 2005 10:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | NO FAA- Public Use |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N362EH |
| NTSB Number | LAX04TA264 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| 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 | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 212HP |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 30853 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 11200 |
| 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 | 11 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 29 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 29.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 11309.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Era Helicopters Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Anchorage |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99501 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | United States Forest Service |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Washington |
| Operator State | DC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 20250 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | External Load |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | O05 |
| Departure City | Chester |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover - in ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 9 2005 4:29PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| 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 | -- |