Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Niigata
Monday, January 10, 2005 13:12 UTC
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On January 10, 2005, about 1312 UTC, a Sikorsky S76C, JA6903, operated by the Japan Coast Guard on a training mission, experienced a loss of engine power while hovering over a ship located 28 nautical miles west southwest of Niigata Airport (RJSN). The helicopter collided with the ship before hitting the water and sinking. The meteorological conditions at the time are unknown. The helicopter was destroyed and the two pilots, and two of the four crewmembers were not injured. The other two crewmembers received serious and minor injuries.
It was reported that the helicopter was hovering about 80 feet above a Coast Guard ship, lowering a hoist cable to pick up a rescuer and a dummy from the ship deck when the number 1 engine experienced a loss of power. The hoist cable was cut by a crew member and the pilot tried to maneuver the helicopter away from the ship. During the descending and evasive maneuver, the helicopter collided with the bow of the ship with its tail section. The pilot was unable to deploy the helicopter's emergency floats as it landed in the water and rolled to the right side and capsized, subsequently sinking.
This accident is under the jurisdiction of and is being investigated by the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission. Further information can be obtained from:
Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
2-1-2, Kasumigaseki Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-8918, Japan
Hideyo Kosugi
Investigator-In-Charge
+81-3-5253-8814
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/10/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1312 |
| Event Time Zone | Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Event City | Niigata |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | -- |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | -- |
| Event Location Latitude | 375050N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1383302E |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | Foreign |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | NTSB HQ |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 26 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1530 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 7 2005 4:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCGR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | -- |
| NTSB Number | SEA05WA041 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 129: Foreign |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | -- |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | -- |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Sikorsky |
| Aircraft Model | S76C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | -- |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | -- |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | -- |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | JA |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger/Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | RJSN |
| Departure City | Niigata |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | -- |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| 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 |
| 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 | -- |