Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Iliamna Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Iliamna, Alaska 99506
Sunday, June 29, 2008 22:30 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial pilot said that as the helicopter approached the destination airport during a Part 91 repositioning flight, he elected to make a practice autorotation to the runway. As he lowered the collective to enter the autorotation, the helicopter began to vibrate violently. He continued the autorotation to runway, and stated that during the landing flare the helicopter's tail boom contacted the runway, the helicopter rocked forward, and the landing gear skids struck the ground. The hard landing resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage, tail boom assembly, and main rotor transmission supports. A maintenance technician that did a postaccident inspection of the helicopter discovered loose and worn bearings on the helicopter's stabilizer bar, swashplate, flight control tube assemblies, and the right and left hydraulic servos. In a written report the maintenance technician reported that the mechanical discrepancies he discovered during his inspection were, in part: "noted as being the root cause of the vertical vibration..."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of company maintenance personnel to ensure the helicopter was properly maintained, resulting in a severe in-flight vibration due to collective bounce. Contributing to the accident was loose and worn bearings on the helicopter's stabilizer bar, swashplate, flight control tube assemblies, and the right and left hydraulic servos.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/29/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2230 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Iliamna |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99506 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 594513N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1545439W |
| Event Location Airport | Iliamna |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | IlI |
| 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 | 192 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 2153 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ILI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 192 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5500 |
| 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) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 110 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.19 |
| 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 |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25264 |
| NTSB Notification Source | ANC FAA, ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 3 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 24 2009 4:04PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Anchorage FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N64RA |
| NTSB Number | ANC08LA083 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | UH-1B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 65-12854 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 6 |
| 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 | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | POLLUX AVIATION LTD |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 6205 E BEECHCRAFT CIR |
| Aircraft Owner City | WASILLA |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99654-9332 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Pollux Avaition LTD |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Wasilla |
| Operator State | AK |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 99654 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | PLATINUM |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2100 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | ILI |
| Destination City | ILIAMNA |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 24 2009 4:04PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 07 |
| Runway Length | 5086 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |