Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Turtle Bay Hilton Heliport Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Kahuku, Hawaii 96731
Thursday, April 19, 2007 14:05 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During an aerial surveillance flight, the helicopter's engine chip light illuminated, and the pilot headed towards a nearby heliport to make a precautionary landing. The pilot established a steep fast approach in case of engine failure while on approach. At approximately 100 feet above the ground and an airspeed of 65 knots, he applied power and began to slow the helicopter. At this point, the engine lost power, and the pilot entered an autorotation. The helicopter landed hard breaking both forward landing gear struts and spreading the rear struts. The main rotor blades impacted the tail boom, and the tail boom separated from the fuselage. Examination of the helicopter revealed heavy deposits of oil on the inner surfaces of the engine compartment as well as on the exterior surfaces of the engine. There was no oil in the airframe engine oil reservoir. The oil line leading from the engine gearbox to the oil pressure gauge was found cracked beneath the "B" nut securing it to the fitting on the engine gearbox. The N2 (power turbine) drive could not be rotated. Partial disassembly of the engine revealed damage to the number six, seven, and eight bearings consistent with a lack of adequate lubrication. Laboratory examination of the cracked oil line found fatigue cracking had propagated through an estimated 90 percent of the cross-sectional area of the tube. The cracking allowed lubricating oil to leak from the line resulting in oil starvation to the bearings leading to seizure of the power turbine.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fatigue cracking of the oil line from the engine gearbox to the oil pressure gauge, which resulted in loss of engine lubricating oil, leading to seizure of the power turbine.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/19/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1405 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | Kahuku |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96731 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 214217N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1580020W |
| Event Location Airport | Turtle Bay Hilton Heliport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HI58 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 13 |
| 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 | 10000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 40 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 20 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.04 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23426 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 19 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 | N911FT |
| NTSB Number | SEA07LA108 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | HUGHES |
| Aircraft Model | 369D |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 811036D |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3000 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 14899 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | K&S Helicopters, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Kailua Kona |
| 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 | K2DA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | External Load |
| 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 | HNL |
| Departure City | Honolulu |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1305 |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | HI58 |
| Destination City | Kahuku |
| Destination State | HI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 8 2011 4:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |