Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Dona Ana County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008
Tuesady, May 16, 2006 10:10 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The purpose of the instructional flight was to conduct simulated emergency governor operations. The single-engine helicopter landed hard in a near level flight attitude in a slight tail low attitude. The landing gear skids collapsed on impact causing the lower vertical fin and tail rotor assembly to make contact with the ground, bucking the tailboom at the forward attaching points. The helicopter slid on it's fuselage 250 feet from the point of impact and came to rest in an upright position. The left pilot seat attenuated as designed but there was no evidence of attenuation on the right pilot seat. The crew performed an emergency engine shutdown and egressed unassisted. The wreckage of the helicopter was recovered to the facilities of the operator's secured facilities for further examination. The investigator examined the helicopter systems and tested the throttle twist grip for anomalies. The tests on the throttle twist grip simulated actions taken during the training flight. Several cycles of the governor from the "auto" mode to the "manual" mode for two minutes and back to the auto made for 3 minutes were performed to determine if a problem would occur that would restrict manual throttle operation. The examination determined after several cycles, that the solenoid that retracted to allow manual throttle manipulation would not fully retract and created a restriction due to heat generated during the activation. The helicopter seats were examined to determine if the any anomalies existed with the crash attenuating seats. The left front seat was documented as fully attenuating during the crash sequence and the right front seat had not attenuated. The seats were shipped for analysis to it's manufacturer's facilities in France for further testing. The examination and testing revealed that the seats met specifications and evidence on the right seat showed that the seat attenuation was initiating but did not appear to have sustained sufficient forces to fully stroke.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructor's improper supervision of the flight which resulted in a hard landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/16/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1010 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Santa Teresa |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 88008 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 315252N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1064217W |
| Event Location Airport | Dona Ana County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 5T6 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 4112 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 955 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | 5T6 |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4112 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 100 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 10 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.24 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22901 |
| NTSB Notification Source | US Customs and Border Patrol |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 16 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 30 2008 4:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | ALB FSDO, Albuquerque, NM |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N183AE |
| NTSB Number | DFW06TA127 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| 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 | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | AS350-B3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3852 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4961 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 352 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | US Department of Homeland Security |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 425 I Street NW Rm 3064 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Washington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20536 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Santa Teresa |
| Departure State | NM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 930 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ELP |
| Destination City | El Paso |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 3 2008 5:53PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 28 |
| Runway Length | 8500 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |