Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lihue, Hawaii 96766
Thursday, July 15, 2004 16:00 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The main rotor contacted a tree during firefighting operations. The pilot completed an emergency landing, and the helicopter rolled onto its side. The pilot was maneuvering the helicopter slowly toward a fire, almost in a hovering condition. The pilot's attention was focused on the bucket attached to the helicopter, and the clearance between the bucket and the trees. Just after he initiated the water release, the main rotor blades impacted a tree. The pilot felt that the accident was a result of his focused attention on the bucket and his failure to see the limited clearance between the tree and the main rotor blades. The pilot noted no mechanical malfunctions with the helicopter, nor were any found during a examination by an FAA inspector. The pilot's total bambi bucket experience was 10 hours, and he dumped 60 buckets over a 2-hour period the day of the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot misjudging the clearance between the tree and the main rotor blades. Contributing factors to the accident were the high workload of the pilot and his lack of experience with bambi bucket operations.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/15/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1600 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | Lihue |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96766 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 215833N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1592020W |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PHLI |
| 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 | 2300 |
| 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) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.99 |
| 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) | 16382 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 15 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1926 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 29 2004 1:02PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-HNL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N530RL |
| NTSB Number | LAX04CA268 |
| 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 | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | 369FF |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0602FF |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Smokey Mountain Helicopters, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Hanapepe |
| Aircraft Owner State | HI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | PACIFIC AVIATION INTERNATIONAL INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Hanapepe |
| Operator State | HI |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 96716 |
| Operator Code | FNHL |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PAK |
| Departure City | Hanapepe |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | LIH |
| Destination City | Lihue |
| Destination State | HI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering - aerial application |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 24 2004 11:22AM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |