Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
West Houston Aorport Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Houston, Texas 77084
Wednesday, April 19, 2006 17:20 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial pilot completed a successful landing to a hover and taxied to a point on the airport ramp to complete the flight mission. While at a stable hover, while preparing to set the twin-engine helicopter on the ground, the aircraft entered an uncommanded spin to the right. The copilot stated that the helicopter made 3 full 360-degree turns to the right prior to making ground contact. Lateral forces due to the spin caused the left main landing gear to collapse and all 4 main rotor blades to contact the ground. The aircraft remained upright and the pilot, copilot, and all 8 passengers were not injured. On scene investigation by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the cowling that covered the first section of the tail rotor drive shaft had not been secured and had contacted the shaft severing it in two. The helicopter had recently had maintenance performed and the cowling was left unsecured. The flight crew failed to notice the loose cowling during their preflight inspection prior to departure.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure by maintenance personnel to secure the tail rotor driveshaft cowling after performing maintenance which resulted in a loss of tail rotor control. A contributing factor was the pilot's improper preflight inspection of the tail rotor driveshaft area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/19/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1720 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Houston |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 77084 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 094503N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0954013W |
| Event Location Airport | West Houston Aorport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KIWS |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 111 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1753 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 356 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSGR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 82 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.78 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 10 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21605 |
| NTSB Notification Source | ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 20 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 27 2007 1:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Flight Standards Disctrcit Office, Houston, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8063R |
| NTSB Number | DFW06LA093 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Sikorsky |
| Aircraft Model | S-76A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 760064 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 10500 |
| 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 | 14 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 9272 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Houston Helicopters, Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3506 Lockheed Street |
| Aircraft Owner City | Pearland |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 77581 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | High Island 139 |
| Departure State | GM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1652 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KIWS |
| Destination City | Houston |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover - in ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 1 2007 9:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| 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 | -- |