Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Platform Irene Heliport Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Maria, California 93455
Friday, June 27, 2008 12:33 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter's copilot was performing the landing on an oil production platform and making a right pedal turn over the heliport surface when the tail rotor of the helicopter struck a movable derrick. The copilot lost tail rotor authority and landed immediately. The left main gear collapsed and the helicopter rolled onto the left side. The helicopter received structural damage to the tail rotor and main rotor assemblies. The operator reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the helicopter. Six days before the accident, the movable derrick on the platform had been positioned to its closest location to the heliport area, 7 feet from the southeast edge of the heliport deck. None of the derricks on the other platforms used by the operator can be positioned this close to the flight deck. The deck area of the accident platform's heliport is 50 feet by 50 feet, compared to an area of about 70 feet by 70 feet on the other platform heliport decks. In the past, the accident platform had different markings than those on the other decks, including a reference line, or "Butt Line," to determine the location of the pilot seat that would allow adequate tail rotor clearance during a pedal turn. The deck on the accident platform had been stripped and repainted about 2 months before the accident, and the new markings were similar to those on the other decks; however, the "H" symbol was offset from the previous position to be about 1 foot closer to the southeast side of the deck, and the reference line had not been repainted.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The copilot's misjudged clearance from an object during a hovering turn for landing. Contributing to the accident were the inadequately marked heliport surface and the close proximity of an obstruction near the landing area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/27/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1233 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Santa Maria |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93455 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 343640N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1204351W |
| Event Location Airport | Platform Irene Heliport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| 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 | 110 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1155 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 31 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KVBG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 369 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 11 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1200 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 14 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| 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 | 9 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25092 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 27 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2009 5:58PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Van Nuys FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N343AA |
| NTSB Number | LAX08LA200 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | SIKORSKY |
| Aircraft Model | S-76A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 760013 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 10500 |
| 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 | 14 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 4310 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Arctic Air Service |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3820 S. Blosser |
| Aircraft Owner City | Santa Maria |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93455 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Artic Air Service |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 3820 S. Blosser Rd |
| Operator City | Santa Maria |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 93455 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SMX |
| Departure City | SANTA MARIA |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1202 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Santa Maria |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover - in ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2009 5:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | 50 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |