Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Blaine Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Blaine, Washington 98230
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 18:40 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During an annual helicopter proficiency evaluation flight, the flight instructor told the commercial pilot to conduct manual governor operations and the flight instructor then positioned the governor switch from "auto" to "man" while on the downwind leg to the runway. After performing a left 360-degree turn, the commercial pilot initiated a normal approach to the runway with the intention of performing a run-on landing. The commercial pilot stated that as the helicopter descended through 20 feet above ground level (agl), he attempted to increase throttle and collective to arrest the rate of descent when it "felt like the bottom fell out" and the helicopter landed hard on the asphalt runway surface in a slight nose high attitude. The flight instructor reported that he heard the aural low rotor RPM horn sound and noticed the rotor RPM was slowing through 350 rpm as the helicopter was descending through about 20 feet agl. The instructor stated that before he could react to correct the situation the helicopter struck the ground. Examination of the helicopter by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the tail boom was partially bent and one of the main rotor blades was damaged. No preimpact mechanical anomalies with the helicopter were reported by either pilot.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain main rotor rpm, which resulted in a hard landing. Contributing to the accident were the flight instructor's delayed remedial action and inadequate supervision of the flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/1/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1840 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Blaine |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98230 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 485924N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1224356W |
| Event Location Airport | Blaine Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 4W6 |
| 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 | 75 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1853 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 147 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BLI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 170 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 14 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| 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) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.86 |
| 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) | 24970 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 12 2009 3:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | grol |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N172AE |
| NTSB Number | WPR09TA001 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | EUROCOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | AS350B3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3839 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4961 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 3 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 28 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 98.4 |
| Airframe Hours | 1590.5 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | U S Department of Homeland Security |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1300 PENNSYLVANIA AVE NW RM 6.4A |
| Aircraft Owner City | Washington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20229 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | United States Customs and Border Protection |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | Franklin Station |
| Operator City | Washington |
| Operator State | DC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 20044 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BLI |
| Departure City | Bellingham |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1815 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 23 2009 7:32PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 32 |
| Runway Length | 2539 |
| Runway Width | 40 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |