Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Leavenworth, Washington 98826
Wednesday, August 11, 2004 10:25 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was operating under contract to the United States Forest Service (USFS). The purpose of the external load flight was to deliver equipment to a crew of smoke jumpers fighting a fire in heavily wooded, mountainous terrain. The jumpers estimated the trees in the area were a maximum of 120 feet tall, and therefore, they requested a 150 foot long line be used for the equipment drop. The helicopter was dispatched with a tandem load on a 160 foot long line. The smoke jumpers placed a marker on a sand bar in a stream bed. There was a tall dead tree (snag) located on a cut bank overlooking the sand bar. As the helicopter approached the area, one of the smoke jumpers communicated by radio with the pilot that if he did not like the marked site, he could choose his own spot. The pilot replied that he would give the marked spot a try. The radio operator did not mention the snag to the pilot. The pilot successfully placed both loads on the marker. Another smoke jumper disconnected both loads and then reconnected one of the loads meant to be dropped at another location. As the helicopter began its departure, the pilot who was sitting in the left seat, slowly turned the helicopter's nose to the left and its tail to the right. This maneuver allowed the helicopter's tail rotor to contact the snag. The helicopter began to spin and then fell to the ground. Investigation revealed that the snag was located 36 feet from the marker and was about 173 feet tall. The rotor diameter of the helicopter was 48 feet. Following the accident, the USFS issued an Aviation Safety Alert on the subject of "Clearance From Obstacles During External Load Operations." One of the recommendations in the alert stated the following: "In areas of sloping terrain or with obstacles rising to one or more sides of the cargo pickup/delivery area, or dip site, pilot should maintain aircraft clearance from all obstacles in accordance with the landing area safety circle requirements for the type aircraft. The safety circle is generally recognized as 1 1/2 times the rotor diameter."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from the snag while hovering out of ground effect during an external load operation. Factors were the smoke jumper's misjudgment of the tree heights in the area, which resulted in the use of too short a long line, and their failure to communicate with the pilot about the tall snag.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/11/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1025 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Leavenworth |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98826 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 473900N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1210230W |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| 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 | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| 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) | 17636 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 11 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1240 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 28 2005 2:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Spokane, WA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N205XP |
| NTSB Number | SEA04TA158 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 205A1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 30017 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 10200 |
| 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 | 10 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 89 |
| Airframe Hours | 28600 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Copter Lease LLC Trustee |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4701 Hawkins St NE |
| Aircraft Owner City | Albuquerque |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | USDA Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Management |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1400 Independence Ave SW, Mailstop 1107 |
| Operator City | Washington |
| Operator State | DC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 20250 |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Leavenworth |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 955 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Leavenworth |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover - out of ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| 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 | -- |