Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Trona, California 93562
Saturday, September 3, 2005 8:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The experimental helicopter impacted terrain after experiencing a failure of a flight control connecting rod. According to the pilot, he was maneuvering the helicopter about 50 feet above the ground when he heard a loud bang followed by a whirring or buzzing noise. The helicopter rolled to the left, which the pilot was unable to counter with control inputs, and impacted terrain on the left side. A post-accident examination of the helicopter by the pilot/builder revealed that a 27.875-inch aluminum control rod was fractured near the middle of the rod. The control rod was connected between the collective-cyclic mixing assembly and a walking beam that connected to the stationary swash plate of the left side (pilot side) of the helicopter. The break in the control rod was perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the rod. Examination of the control rod by a metallurgical laboratory revealed the failure was a result of a fatigue crack that had propagated through nearly 75 percent of the control rod. A portion of the break was polished indicating that the crack had been present for quite some time. The pre-existing crack in the control rod reduced its strength to a point that allowed the flight control forces to fail the remaining material. According to the pilot/builder, a break in the control rod would result in flight characteristics consistent with that experienced by the pilot during the accident flight. The control system has been redesigned by the kit manufacturer as a result of this accident and now incorporates steel control rods as opposed to aluminum ones.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the in-flight fatigue failure of a control system connecting rod, which resulted in a loss of helicopter control.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/3/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 830 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Trona |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93562 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 354000N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1172000W |
| 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 | 856 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | NID |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2455 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 65 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.01 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20981 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 3 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 26 2007 11:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Van Nuys |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N912TT |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA288 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Goodlett |
| Aircraft Model | Safari |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2002 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 59 |
| Airframe Hours | 522.7 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Gilbert O. Goodlett |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Ridgecrest |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93555 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PVT |
| Departure City | Ridgecrest |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 757 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 30 2006 6:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| 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 | -- |