Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Iliamna, Alaska 99606
Friday, August 22, 2008 18:00 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial helicopter pilot was positioning the helicopter to move crew members from a drilling test site. As he approached and passed the approximately 70-foot high drill tower, he related that he was about 30 feet above the ground, when he heard a violent bang and lost control of the helicopter. The helicopter immediately became uncontrollable, and descended rapidly to the ground, where it caught fire. The pilot said he was able to release his seat restraints, and crawled through where the windscreen/bubble used to be. The drilling crew had previously stripped approximately 6,000 feet of 3/8-inch thick cable from the drum at the base of the drill tower, over the top of the tower, and onto the ground. The pilot was unaware of these activities, and did not see the wire until after he had collided with it. According to the operator, pulling the wire off the drum was a rare occurrence, and there was no active communication from ground personnel alerting the pilot that the wire was trailing away from the tower.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to see a wire cable prior to colliding with it. Factors contributing to the accident were the non-routine positioning of the wire cable, and the ground crew's failure to advise the pilot that the wire had been re-routed.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/22/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1800 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Iliamna |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99606 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 591408N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1551334W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| 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 | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PAIL |
| 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 | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 Docket Number (internal use) | 24378 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Operator/FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 22 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 | Anchorage, AK |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N291VB |
| NTSB Number | ANC08CA112 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Robinson |
| Aircraft Model | R44 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1138 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | POLLUX AVIATION LIMITED |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wasilla |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| 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 | UPXL |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PAIL |
| Departure City | Iliamna |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Iliamna |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 28 2008 6:56PM |
| User who most recently changed record | LABJ |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |