Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Panama City-Bay Int. Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bonifay, Florida 32425
Saturday, February 5, 2005 5:50 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A witness, the pilot's wife, who was watching the takeoff stated that the helicopter had been parked overnight and immediately prior to departure her husband used the garden hose and washed the windscreen with water. He then embarked the helicopter, started the engine, lifted into a hover, taxied, and initiated a normal takeoff. She said she watched the takeoff, and at an altitude of about 75 to 100 feet the helicopter assumed a slight nose low descending attitude and suddenly impacted the ground. She said that the helicopter descended impacting hard on its skids, but mainly on the right skid, and it fell over on the right side, momentarily rolled inverted, and then rolled back on the right side. She said that the helicopter had been operating normally, and she did not hear any unusual noises, or observe any erratic movement associated with the helicopter, and that all she saw initially prior to the impact was a gradual nose low right side low, but faster than normal descent. She said it was not the usual gentle movements she had become used to observing her husband perform countless times before when landing or taking off in the helicopter. A second witness, said that he was standing at the edge of the driveway when the helicopter was about 100 feet in the air, and he heard a loud "pop" noise, saw a momentary blaze of fire, and then the helicopter nosed over, and descended impacting the ground upside down. Postcrash examination of the helicopter and its systems did not reveal any preaccident anomalies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain a climb after takeoff and his continued descent which resulted in an in-flight collision with the ground. A factor in the accident was the dark night.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/5/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 550 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Bonifay |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32425 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 304931N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0854801W |
| Event Location Airport | Panama City-Bay Int. Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PFN |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 45 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 20 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 553 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PFN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 39 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 38 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 5 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.28 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20755 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ATL Comm. Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 5 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 730 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 28 2006 9:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Birmingham, Alabama |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N35BA |
| NTSB Number | MIA05FA055 |
| 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 | 206B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 487 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3500 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 81.6 |
| Airframe Hours | 15696.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Lance Aviation, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3900 Aero Place |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lakeland |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33811 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Bonifay |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 550 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | LAL |
| Destination City | Lakeland |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 2 2006 1:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |