Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Panama City Bay County Interna Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Panama City, Florida 32401
Tuesady, August 24, 2004 17:20 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated he flew out from Panama City-Bay County International Airport to survey a boat located on Deer Point Lake, approximately 8 miles northeast of the airport. With an altitude of about 50 feet and a forward airspeed around 35 to 40 mph he entered a circling maneuver. While flying upwind he reduced engine RPM, and as he turned downwind, he pulled up on the collective, but felt the helicopter sinking instead of climbing. He then looked at the engine instruments and saw the rotor RPM going below 85%. Immediately, he pushed the collective down, but was unable to regain RPM. He deployed emergency floats about 10 feet above the water. The helicopter hit the water "hard" in about 4 feet of water and then rolled onto its right side, due to the right flotation bag being torn off upon impacting the water. The FAA inspector who responded to the accident stated, upon inspection of the helicopter, after recovery, it was found that a pneumatic tubing line had backed off the governor and caused the engine to go to minimum RPM. The governor was last installed 500 hours before the accident and showed signs of a torque seal on the B-nut. The pneumatic line that backed off the fitting is located on the backside of the governor and is hard to see and check for proper torque during routine maintenance.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Inadequate maintenance inspection resulting in the partial loss of engine power due to a loose pneumatic line on the governor and ditching of the helicopter.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/24/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1720 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Panama City |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32401 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 301243N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0854058W |
| Event Location Airport | Panama City Bay County Interna |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KPFN |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 3 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1738 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 47 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KPFN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 20 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 24 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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) | 18317 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 24 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1645 |
| 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 | Alabama, FSDO-09 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N107PH |
| NTSB Number | MIA04LA123 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | 206B3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2789 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 20 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 823 |
| Airframe Hours | 154430 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Heliworks Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2400 Airport Blvd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Pensacola |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32504 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KPFN |
| Departure City | Panama City |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1700 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| 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 - out of ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 17 2009 5:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | grol |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |