Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Casa Grande, Arizona 85222
Sunday, August 27, 2006 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The engine lost power during an attempted takeoff, and the helicopter landed hard. Just prior to the accident flight, the adjusted valve assembly on the engine was removed and replaced. Following this maintenance, the pilot flew the helicopter to a hospital where a flight paramedic and nurse boarded the helicopter. Upon liftoff, the engine lost power and the helicopter landed hard. Post accident test run and examination of the engine showed that uncommanded shutdowns of the engine would occur at higher power settings. Disassembly of the adjusted valve assembly revealed that the stop electro valve was damaged internally. The damage consisted of a deformation of the core housing which would not allow the stop electro valve to completely open during operation. In this condition, a pressure drop would occur, which would lead to an untimely activation of the stop purge valve and a fuel flow drop. The adjusted valve assembly had been overhauled by the engine manufacturer and then sold to the operator, prior to its installation on the engine. The engine manufacturer indicated that this damage occurred between the time the component was shipped from the factory and its first use, however, they could not ascertain how the damage occurred. The damage was not apparent until the unit was disassembled. Metallurgical examination showed that the damage occurred when the valve was in a disassembled condition.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Internal damage to the stop electro valve which resulted in fuel starvation and subsequent loss of engine power during takeoff.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/27/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 21 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Casa Grande |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85222 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 325248N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1114237W |
| 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 | 15 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 350 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CGZ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1464 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 27 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.86 |
| 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) | 22804 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 27 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2007 6:59AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-SDL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N973AE |
| NTSB Number | LAX06LA273 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| 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 | Eurocopter |
| Aircraft Model | AS 350 B3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3229 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0.5 |
| Airframe Hours | 4530 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PHI, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Post Office Box 90808 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lafayette |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 70509 |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Casa Grande Hel |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 20 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Phoenix |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 4 2007 5:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | Yes |
| Medical Flight | Medical Emergency |