Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
South County Of Santa Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Martin, California 95046
Sunday, October 31, 2004 9:22 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter experienced a loss of engine power and rolled over during an attempted autorotation to a soft, muddy field. The helicopter departed for a 22-nautical mile training flight with 10 gallons of fuel remaining in the 28-gallon fuel tank. While en route, both the certified flight instructor (CFI) and student pilot noted that an unusually high application of carburetor heat was required to keep the inlet temperature needle within the normal range. With the intention of entering the traffic pattern at the destination airport, the student pilot initiated a descent and maneuvered the helicopter in a right turn. With the helicopter configured in the right turn, about 500 feet above ground level (agl), the engine experienced a momentary power interruption and subsequently stopped. The student pilot executed an autorotation and the helicopter touched down in a crop field. The right skid dug into the soft muddy field, resulting in the helicopter rotating around the skid and coming to rest on its right side. The fuel tank contained about 5 gallons of fuel just prior to the accident. Due to the orientation of the fuel outlet port inside the fuel tank, the helicopter is susceptible to unporting with low quantities of fuel present during maneuvers. With the outlet located on the left side of the tank, when a helicopter is in a right turn with minimal fuel onboard, the outlet can intake air resulting in fuel starvation to the engine. According to a standard reference icing probability chart, the atmospheric conditions present at the time of the accident were in the range considered favorable for carburetor ice formation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of power for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/31/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 922 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | San Martin |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95046 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 370454N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1213549W |
| Event Location Airport | South County Airport of Santa |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | E16 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 45 |
| Airport Elevation | 218 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 135 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | WVI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 143 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 13 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.2 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 37 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19213 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 31 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1015 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 28 2006 12:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | San Jose, CA FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N903B |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA022 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| 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 | 47D1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 847 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2350 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 24 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5 |
| Airframe Hours | 4827.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert Suess |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Jose |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95132 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | RHV |
| Departure City | San Jose |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 910 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | E16 |
| Destination City | San Martin |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - base leg/base to final |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2005 4:43PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |