Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Foley Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Foley, Alabama 36535
Thursday, March 29, 2007 9:10 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the certified flight instructor (CFI), the purpose of the flight was for the student to practice approaches and departures. They used a parallel taxiway for takeoff. The student pilot was at the controls and began a normal takeoff. When they were about 250 feet above ground level (agl) on initial climb out the engine started backfiring and the helicopter began yawing left and right. The CFI immediately took the controls as the engine RPM started to decay. He entered an autorotation and reduced the engine RPM to reduce the yawing from the engine backfiring. At about 40 feet agl he flared the helicopter to stop the descent and slow the forward airspeed. He leveled the helicopter and they settled to the surface and were sliding forward when the front skids snagged the grass and the helicopter nosed over coming to rest on the right side. The CFI and student pilot escaped without injury. Examination of the helicopter by an FAA Inspector, found the helicopter resting on its right side with substantial damage to the main rotor blades, windscreen and the tail boom. Further examination of the engine found the engines No. 4 exhaust valve stuck in the valve guide with the rocker arm out of position.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Loss of engine power due to failure of the No. 4 engine exhaust valve.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/29/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 910 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Foley |
| Event State | ALABAMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 36535 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 302540N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0874202W |
| Event Location Airport | Foley Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 5R4 |
| 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 | 74 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1053 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 340 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MOB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 219 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 29 |
| 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) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.24 |
| 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 Docket Number (internal use) | 23323 |
| NTSB Notification Source | CFI |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 29 2007 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 | Birmingham FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N494D |
| NTSB Number | ATL07LA063 |
| 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 | -- |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Randy Stanley |
| Aircraft Model | Rotoway Exc 162F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 6567 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 63 |
| Airframe Hours | 63 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Garanco, Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 100 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Pilot Mountain |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 27041 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Mark Peterson |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2379 Moorehaven |
| Operator City | Clearwater |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| 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 | 5R4 |
| Departure City | Foley |
| Departure State | AL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 20 2008 3:38PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |