Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Cameron Airpark Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cameron Park, California 95682
Wednesday, July 21, 2004 15:40 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Witnesses said the helicopter was in cruise flight when it pitched up, rolled left to an inverted attitude while portions of the airframe separated, then it descended straight down to ground impact. Wreckage examination found evidence that the main rotor blades (MRB) diverged from their plane of rotation, and mast bumping occurred. Thereafter, the blades impacted the tail boom, which separated from the helicopter. The helicopter became uncontrollable, rolled inverted, and descended into a residence. Portions of both the helicopter and residence were consumed in the post impact fire. The pilot-builder held a repairman certificate for his experimental category helicopter. The pilot had replaced RotorWay's main rotor blades with blades manufactured by another company. During assembly of the helicopter, each MRB was attached to its respective blade yoke with a single retention nut/bolt assembly. The subsequent wreckage examination revealed that the nut that secured one of the MRBs to its retention bolt was missing. The retention bolt was examined, and its threads were not stripped; the bolt was intact. During the MRB installation, the nut had likely been inadequately torqued, and thereafter, it had worked off the bolt during flight. With the bolt loose, the MRB was free to diverge from its normal rotation plane, thus rendering the helicopter uncontrollable.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The owner-builder's improper main rotor blade (MRB) maintenance/installation by under torquing the blade retaining nut.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/21/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1540 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Cameron Park |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95682 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 384006N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1205848W |
| Event Location Airport | Cameron Airpark |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | O61 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 138 |
| Airport Elevation | 1286 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1550 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 330 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | AUN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1531 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 35 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KAUN 212250Z AUTO 24008KT 10SM CLR 35/11 A2991 RMK |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 18806 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 21 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1631 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2005 6:27AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO Sacramento, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N103RW |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA274 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Finke |
| Aircraft Model | Rotorway Exec 162F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 6235 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 1 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 100 |
| Airframe Hours | 200 |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | William J. Finke |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Cameron Park |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95682 |
| 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 | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | O61 |
| Departure City | Cameron Park |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1539 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | O61 |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 6 2005 5:31PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| 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 | -- |