Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gulf Of Mexico, -- 00000
Monday, July 11, 2005 9:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The 17,291-hour commercial helicopter pilot was on short final approach to a helipad on an offshore platform when he heard and felt a "bump" in the flight controls, followed by vibrations in the tail rotor pedals and a loss of tail rotor effectiveness. The pilot immediately landed the helicopter and preformed a normal engine cool-down. Inspection of the helipad found no evidence of a tail rotor strike. A post-accident inspection of the studs, that hold the tail rotor gearbox to the tail boom, revealed signs of low-cycle bending fatigue. Additional inspection under a microscope of the studs, showed evidence of high loads during bending. The 90-degree tail rotor gear-box teeth, displayed typical wear pattern and did not show any sign of misalignment. One of the tail-rotor blades was heavily damaged and missing a portion of the outer blade. The remaining end of the blade was slightly torn and contained gray paint or material at the leading edge. The material was later examined, and found to contain a high concentration of zinc. Examination of paint chips in the impact area on the vertical fin showed no zinc in the paint. The object that impacted the tail rotor blade could not be identified or located during the course of the investigation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The helicopter's tail rotor blade's contact with an unknown object during landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/11/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Gulf of Mexico |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00000 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| 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 | 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 | 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) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 15 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19165 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Operator |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 14 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| 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 | Jackson, MS |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N430CV |
| NTSB Number | DFW05LA180 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| 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 | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 430 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 49072 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 4884 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Chevron USA, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 96 Runway Rd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Picayune |
| Aircraft Owner State | MS |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 39466 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Venice |
| Departure State | LA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Gulf of Mexico |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 16 2006 10:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\HAMG |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |