Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Logan-Cache Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Logan, Utah 84335
Friday, April 18, 2008 16:00 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was registered to, and operated by a state university. The public-use flight was conducted for the purpose of demonstrating rotor blade tracking and balancing to an aviation maintenance technician class. The helicopter was placed facing south into the wind on the asphalt ramp about 150 feet in front of the maintenance hangar. The doors of the hangar face north, and the hangar "seemed to block the wind in the run-up area." The pilot described the weather as "quite windy (20-25 knots est.) with scattered cumulus, very gusty, temperature around 50 degrees." In an interview conducted on the day of the accident, the pilot told a police officer that he had lifted the helicopter to a hover at 6 to 8 inches above the ground and was about to set it down, but mistakenly rolled the throttle on instead of rolling it off. The helicopter lifted to just above the height of the hangar and was caught by a gust of wind. The pilot attempted to descend, but when the helicopter descended below the height of the hangar, it "lost the wind lift and began to descend too fast." Initially the pilot reported to the Safety Board investigator that he intended to fly, however, in a written report submitted 11 days after the accident, the pilot stated that he had "no intent or expectation of flight," and that he "suddenly and unexpectedly" found himself "5 to 10 feet in the air, out of control." The helicopter was drifting toward the students who were standing about 100 feet away. The pilot attempted to turn away from the students and set the helicopter down as quickly as possible. The helicopter touched down tail low and hard on the left rear skid, the main and tail rotor blades contacted the ground, and the helicopter rolled on to its left side. The pilot's medical certificate and flight review were expired. He reported no flight hours in the 90 days preceding the accident, and he told the police officer that "it had been a while" since he had flown a helicopter. Following the accident, the university implemented changes in class procedures for all maintenance courses. The new procedures include having a current, appropriately rated pilot at the controls for all starting and running operations, including both airplanes and helicopters. Also, run-ups will now be performed only in designated areas and calm weather conditions.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate compensation for the wind conditions and failure to maintain control of the helicopter while hovering. Contributing to the accident were the wind gusts and the pilot's lack of recent experience in helicopters.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/18/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1600 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Logan |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84335 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 414728N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1115106W |
| Event Location Airport | Logan-Cache |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LGU |
| 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 | 4457 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1551 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LGU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4457 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 24 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.88 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24080 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 18 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 28 2008 3:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City, UT |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6358Z |
| NTSB Number | LAX08TA116 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| 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 | TH-55 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 191083 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1670 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Utah State University |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | UMC 6000 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Logan |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84322 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LGU |
| Departure City | Logan |
| Departure State | UT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1600 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | LGU |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover - in ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 27 2008 11:48AM |
| User who most recently changed record | JOHB |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |