Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Angels Camp, California 95222
Monday, September 18, 2006 8:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During an approach to land on a flat clear-cut plateau near a local vineyard, the wind shifted and the helicopter landed hard coming to rest on its left side. The pilot noted various obstacles at the approach end of the landing zone; two trees about 50 feet apart from each other, which he intended to fly between, a 6-foot-high mound, followed by a 2-foot hole, and another 2-foot mound, and then a flat area with no additional obstacles. On the approach, the wind shifted from a headwind to a tail wind. The pilot reported that the airspeed dropped below ETL (effective translational lift) and resulted in a loss of lift. He pushed the cyclic forward to gain forward airspeed and applied cyclic and power to avoid contacting the terrain below the top of the plateau. This maneuver assisted in gaining altitude, placing the helicopter above the plateau, but not above the 6-foot mound. He flared the helicopter, and as it passed over the mound, the tail rotor guard struck the top of the mound, which placed the helicopter in a nose down attitude. One of the landing gear skids collided with the 2-foot mound, which broke off the tailboom. At that point, the helicopter yawed to the right and started to roll to the left, and came to rest about 5 feet from the mound, lying on its left side.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a hard landing due to the pilot's inadequate compensation for a wind shift encountered on final approach and his failure to maintain an adequate translational lift airspeed.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/18/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 800 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Angels Camp |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95222 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 380100N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1202800W |
| 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 | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| 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) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 20903 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 18 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 31 2007 9:40AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAC-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7762 |
| NTSB Number | LAX06CA296 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 47G |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | K-931 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Children's Aviation Fund |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Arrow Aviation |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Rancho Murietta |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 95683 |
| 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 | RIU |
| Departure City | Rancho Murieta |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 615 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | RIU |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 15 2006 3:37PM |
| 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 | -- |