Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Dirt Landing Zone Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cibecue, Arizona 85911
Saturday, June 26, 2004 4:30 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter landed hard damaging the tail boom while landing at a improvised landing zone to pickup a medical patient. Several days prior, the pilot had landed at the same landing zone (a baseball field) and recalled that he encountered a large cloud of blowing dirt and was anticipating the same thing. About 3 feet above ground level, as the helicopter slowed to about 10 knots, a dust cloud began to formulate. The pilot said that the helicopter continued to descend and made a "firm" touchdown on the right skid, followed almost immediately by the left. A medical crewmember reported that on final approach he felt as though the helicopter was descending faster than normal. As the helicopter came into ground effect, a significant amount of dust was stirred up, diminishing visibility. The medical crewmember said the skids touched down with "significant" force. The operator reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions of failures with the helicopter.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain a proper decent rate during the landing approach and misjudged landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing. A factor in the accident was the brownout conditions created by the dust cloud that interfered with the pilot's perception of proximity to the ground.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/26/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 430 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Cibecue |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85911 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340241N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1102905W |
| Event Location Airport | Dirt Landing Zone |
| 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 | 5000 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| 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 | Dawn |
| 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) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 18295 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 11 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| 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 | WP-FSDO, Scottsdale, AZ |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5226R |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA285 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| 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 | Eurocopter France |
| Aircraft Model | AS350B3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3144 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4961 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 13 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 3166.7 |
| Airframe Hours | 3253.2 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Roberts Aircraft Company |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4101 Evans Ave. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Cheyenne |
| Aircraft Owner State | WY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 82001 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | NATIVE AMERICAN AIR AMBULANCE INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 6402 E. Superstition Springs Blvd. |
| Operator City | Mesa |
| Operator State | AZ |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 85206 |
| Operator Code | S4WA |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SOW |
| Departure City | Show Low Region |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 400 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Cibecue |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 11 2005 5:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | Yes |
| Medical Flight | Medical Emergency |