Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cougar, Washington 98632
Friday, October 10, 2008 10:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Soon after the helicopter lifted an external load of tree branches and began to fly an uphill route to the central collection point, the long-line became tangled in the trees below the flightpath. As the pilot attempted to continue up the hill toward a landing site, the helicopter's low-rotor rpm horn sounded, and soon thereafter its nose pitched down, and it impacted the ground near the bottom of a steep ravine. Although the long-line was not attached to the helicopter when it crashed, its proximity to the accident site indicated that it was released shortly before the impact. Neither the on-site or the follow-up inspection of the helicopter revealed any evidence of an anomaly in the airframe, engine, or flight control system.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance between his external load and trees while maneuvering. Contributing to the accident were hilly terrain and trees.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/10/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1030 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Cougar |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98632 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 460232n |
| Event Location Longitude | 1222511w |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| 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 | 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) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24696 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Northwest Helicopters |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 26 2008 4:23PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N206CH |
| NTSB Number | WPR09LA010 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | 206B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1735 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3350 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 1 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 4 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 6 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 12242 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | NORTHWEST HELICOPTERS I INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1000 85TH AVE SE |
| Aircraft Owner City | OLYMPIA |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98501-5707 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Northwest Helicopters |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 1000 85TH AVE SE |
| Operator City | Olympia |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 98501-5707 |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | External Load |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KOLM |
| Departure City | Olympia |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 915 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Cougar |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 26 2008 4:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |