Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Raytown, Missouri 64129
Monday, December 11, 2006 22:17 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The air ambulance helicopter executed an emergency landing on an elementary school parking lot following a loss of engine power. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the incident. The pilot stated that he heard a bang and got a low frequency vibration during cruise flight. The helicopter received minor damage due to internal engine components exiting the engine collector and exhaust stack. Examination of the third stage turbine wheel noted high cycle fatigue features on the fracture surface of one of the blades. The fatigue initiated at the trailing edge of the airfoil and propagated 0.515 inch before a fast fracture separation. Although a small area of porosity was observed in the microstructure adjacent to the fracture, it did not intersect the fracture surface, and no evidence of porosity was observed on the fracture surface. Chemistry and hardness were as specified. Given the high cycle features, good material properties, and lack of a stress-concentrating defect at the origin, the fatigue could be secondary to some other event that produced unusual loading or vibrations in the blade.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power during cruise flight due to third stage turbine wheel blade fatigue and subsequent separation, which resulted in an emergency landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 12/11/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 2217 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Raytown |
| Event State | MISSOURI |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 64129 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| 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 | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MKC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Bright |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23348 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 13 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 31 2008 11:52AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | MKC FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N302LE |
| NTSB Number | CHI07IA042 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 407 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 53572 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5250 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1865 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Lifeflight Eagle Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 500 NW Richards Rd. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Kansas City |
| Aircraft Owner State | MO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 64116 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | CJ Systems Aviation Group, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 57 Allegheny County Airport |
| Operator City | West Mifflin |
| Operator State | PA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 15122 |
| Operator Code | BAQA |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Clinton |
| Departure State | MO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2154 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Kansas City |
| Destination State | MO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 24 2008 10:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | BOWL |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | Yes |
| Medical Flight | Discretionary |