Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Casa Grande, Arizona 85222
Monday, January 3, 2005 13:46 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Following the in-flight separation of a main rotor control link, the pilots lost control and the helicopter hit the ground hard and rolled over. The pilots reported that as they turned base in the traffic pattern for landing at the airport, the helicopter pitched up violently and rolled to the right, followed by a hard roll to the left. Both pilots got on the controls and tried to regain control of the helicopter. The pilots lowered the collective and started down for a landing. During the descent, the pitching and rolling continued intermittently with the roll attitude reaching beyond 60 degrees. As the helicopter neared the ground, the pilots flared and the helicopter hit the ground in a tail low attitude and rolled over. A post accident examination of the helicopter, and examination of maintenance records by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, occurred on site and after recovery. During the course of the examination it was determined that maintenance personnel had removed cyclic control links from the cyclic control levers to check the ball joints for excess free play during an inspection. The links are attached to the cyclic levers with bolts and castle nuts with cotter pins through the castle nuts as a safety locking device. The right lateral cyclic control link was found broken. The nut on the upper bolt was 1/4-inch away from the side of the attachment point. There was no evidence of the cotter pins having been added to the castle nuts after the link inspection/reinstallation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the separation of a main rotor control link due to improper maintenance installation.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/3/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1346 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Casa Grande |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85222 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 325717N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1114601W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1356 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 325 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PHX |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1133 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 31 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.85 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19220 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NTSB SCRA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 3 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1300 |
| 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 | WP-SDL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N135NW |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA060 |
| 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 | EC135T1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0010 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2720 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | -- |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 8 |
| Airframe Hours | 4167 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Omni Flight Helicopters, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4650 Airport Parkway |
| Aircraft Owner City | Addison |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75001 |
| 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 | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | RMXA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | IWA |
| Departure City | Mesa |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | CGZ |
| Destination City | Casa Grande |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 2 2009 1:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | Yes |
| Medical Flight | -- |