Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Makawao, Hawaii 96768
Friday, April 20, 2007 15:50 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was one of two helicopters dispatched empty from the company's base to pick up passengers from a confined area remote site at a private residence. The landing at the remote site was uneventful. Passengers were loaded into the other helicopter, and it departed without incident about 3 to 4 minutes prior to departure of the accident helicopter. The passengers were loaded into the accident helicopter, and the pilot briefed them prior to takeoff. The pilot stated that he used maximum allowable power to initiate the takeoff and started forward movement with the cyclic "needing to clear the trees/wires on the takeoff." The helicopter stopped climbing at about 30 ft agl, as it reached tree top height. The nose started to turn left, and the pilot could not stop the turn with right pedal. The helicopter continued to turn left as it settled into the trees and descended to ground impact. The pilot reported no mechanical discrepancies with the helicopter. Four minutes before the accident, the nearest weather reporting station, located about 4 nautical miles from the accident site, reported winds from a true heading of 050 at 19 knots gusting to 29 knots. Review of an on board video recording of the accident flight indicated that the helicopter departed downwind on a true heading of about 251 degrees. The pilot stated that "downwind takeoff was the reason for accident." He commented that the wind was "25 to 30 [knots] with gusts." The pilot stated that he had spoken to the operator's chief pilot the day before the accident "about the poor choice of performing this charter with high winds 25, gusting to 30." He further stated that on the morning of the accident he reiterated his concerns "about the required downwind takeoff at the remote site" to the company's operations manager. According to the operator, "the downwind departure resulted in the helicopter settling with an uncontrolled nose rotation to the left." The operator expressed the opinion that had the pilot performed a maximum performance confined area takeoff into the wind, the helicopter would have achieved effective translational lift to clear barriers without any incident or problems.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper decision to takeoff downwind in a confined landing zone, which resulted in a failure to attain translational lift and a loss of control.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/20/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1550 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | Makawao |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96768 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 205200N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1561900W |
| 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 | 1554 Hawaii Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PHOG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 54 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 4 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | HST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 9000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 19 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 29 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.03 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 5 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 5 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23427 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 20 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 30 2008 1:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Honolulu, HI |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N130WS |
| NTSB Number | SEA07LA110 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Eurocopter |
| Aircraft Model | EC 130 B4 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3685 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5350 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 5024 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Sunshine Helicopters, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Kahului |
| Aircraft Owner State | HI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| 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 | SSHA |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Makawao |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Kapalua |
| Destination State | HI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 8 2008 3:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |