Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Los Banos, California 93635
Saturday, March 26, 2005 8:30 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter made a hard landing following a loss of engine power during a practice autorotation. The instructor pilot reported that while in cruise he simulated a loss of engine power. The student, who was studying to become a flight instructor, initiated an autorotation to a field. When the instructor attempted to apply engine power following the practice autorotation, the engine "immediately quit." The instructor applied full collective to cushion the landing, but the helicopter landed hard in the field, structurally damaging the tail boom and the fuselage. Following the accident, the operator returned the helicopter to their facility and test ran the engine. No anomalies were noted, and they believed the conditions were suitable for the development of carburetor ice during the autorotation. Review of archived weather data for the day of the accident revealed the closest weather observation facility reported the temperature and dew point as 6 and 5 degrees Celsius, respectively. Plotting of those temperatures on a carburetor icing probability chart revealed that conditions likely existed for serious icing at any power setting.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the instructor pilot's failure to apply carburetor heat during a simulated engine failure, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to carburetor icing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/26/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 830 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Los Banos |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93635 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 370300N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1205000W |
| 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 | 753 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 45 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MCE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 24 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 4 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.24 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19562 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 25 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 25 2006 11:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Fresno, California |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N820SH |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA278 |
| 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 | Robinson Helicopter Company |
| Aircraft Model | R22 Beta |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3772 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1370 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Silver State Helicopters LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 500 E Cheyenne Ave |
| Aircraft Owner City | North Las Vegas |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89030 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | LSN |
| Departure City | Los Banos |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 800 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 3O1 |
| Destination City | Gustine |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 13 2006 5:14PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |