Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
None Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Valentine, Texas 79584
Friday, February 8, 2008 11:15 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial pilot/air interdiction agent was engaged in a United States Custom and Border Patrol (CBP) mission in a single-engine turbine equipped helicopter when the engine stopped producing power and the helicopter descended rapidly from a height of 30-50 feet above the ground. The pilot maintained directional control and made a hard landing in a wash-out. The helicopter remained upright, but the skids were completely spread, the tail rotor blades were damaged, and the fuselage sustained structural damage. Further examination of the engine revealed that a castellated nut used to secure the governor lever control rod to the idler bell crank had come completely loose, and the cotter pin that secured the nut was missing. The engine had been replaced 5.1 hours prior to the accident by a contract maintenance facility. The mechanic stated that during the first engine run-up, he discovered an oil leak on the left side of the engine. As a result, the engine was shut down and the linkages on the left side of the engine were disassembled, including the governor level control rod assembly. During the reassembly, he got distracted by a phone call, which delayed him from completing the repair. As a result, when he returned to complete the repair, he got "tunnel vision" and forgot to install the cotter pin during the reassembly process, which would have kept the castellated nut that secured the attachment bolt for the governor level control rod from loosening. According to CBP, their agency was responsible for the oversight of this maintenance and the helicopter was returned to service in accordance with the military technical manuals. However, there were no established inspection procedures to properly accept an aircraft that had just undergone a major repair. In addition, a review of the OH-6A Technical Manuals revealed that only a standard castellated nut and cotter pin was needed to properly install the governor lever control rod, while the more recent Hughes 500 repair manual and an FAA Airworthiness Directive required a castellated nut with fiber inserts to prevent the nut from backing off.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The contract mechanic's failure to properly secure the castellated nut that attached the governor lever control rod to the idler bell crank. Contributing to the accident was the lack of maintenance oversight by the operator.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/8/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1115 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Valentine |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 79584 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 303509N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1042926W |
| Event Location Airport | None |
| 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 | 1115 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 160 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MRF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 40 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| 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) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.23 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24319 |
| NTSB Notification Source | US Customs/Border Protection A |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 9 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 26 2008 6:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Lubbock, TX |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N66372 |
| NTSB Number | DFW08TA066 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Hughes |
| Aircraft Model | OH-6 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 67-16595 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2700 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 1 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 5999 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Customs and Border Protection |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| 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? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | El Paso |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 79906 |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MRF |
| Departure City | Marfa |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 940 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| 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 | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 12 2008 3:48PM |
| User who most recently changed record | GAMW |
| 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 | -- |