Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Patterson, Louisiana 70392
Thursday, December 9, 2004 12:30 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot lifted off and approximately 50 feet above ground level (agl), the engine lost power. The helicopter was at an airspeed and altitude combination (below height/velocity curve), and the pilot was unable to execute a successful autorotation. The helicopter contacted the ground in a high rate of descent, resulting in the main rotor blade contacting the tail boom. At the time of the incident the helicopter contained less then 200 pounds of fuel and the pilot had not engaged the fuel boost pump circuit breakers before liftoff. The Bell 206L-1 flight manual, revision 21, indicated the following: "Warning: If both fuel boost pumps fail, unusable fuel may be as high as 150 pounds due to inability to transfer fuel from the forward cells."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power due to fuel starvation resulting from the pilot's failure to activate the fuel boost pumps prior to takeoff. A contributing factor was that the helicopter was at an airspeed and altiutude combination (below height/velocity curve) which precluded the pilot from executing a successful autorotation.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/9/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1230 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Patterson |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 70392 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 294226N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0912000W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| 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 | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Obscured |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0.25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| 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 | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17292 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Houston FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 22 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 | Oct 3 2005 10:20AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\HAMG |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Houston FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5007F |
| NTSB Number | DFW05CA044 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | B206L-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 45186 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Evergreen Helicopters Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | McMinnville |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| 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 | GLS |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | SS-198 |
| Departure State | GM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 725 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PTN |
| Destination City | PATTERSON |
| Destination State | LA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |