Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Clarita, California 91390
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 9:30 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
With the engine started and at flight idle, the ground crewman/mechanic disconnected the ground power cart from the helicopter's external power unit plug. As the ground crewman/mechanic was walking away from the helicopter, the pilot detected that a gust of wind was lifting the aircraft up off of its right main landing gear. The pilot applied full right cyclic to counter the uplifting condition; however, the wind gust continued lifting the helicopter to the left and nose down until the aircraft came to rest inverted. As the helicopter was rolling over, the main rotor blades impacted a fueling truck and struck the ground crewman/mechanic. There was no postcrash fire. The pilot noted that the winds were generally light and variable at the time of engine start, and estimated that the gust was from the east-southeast at up to 15 knots. He further reported that gusty, unpredictable wind conditions were not uncommon in the area. The closest aviation weather reporting station was 22 miles south east of the accident site and was reporting winds from 030 degrees at 7 knots. According to the Kaman K-1200 flight manual, the maximum right quartering tailwind condition for takeoff and landing is from 17 knots to 25 knots. The winds at the accident site most likely exceeded the maximum wind allowed with reference to the helicopter's prevailing wind envelope, which resulted in the helicopter lifting to the left and rolling over.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The helicopter's encounter with a gusty crosswind condition during engine start that exceeded the helicopter's demonstrated wind envelope.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/17/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Santa Clarita |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91390 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 342836N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1182737W |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 158 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BUR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 778 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 22 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3900 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 30 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.8 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 1 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25533 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Regional 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 | Jul 20 2009 11:46AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N267KA |
| NTSB Number | WPR09LA057 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | KAMAN |
| Aircraft Model | K-1200 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | A94-0037 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 12000 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 1 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 16 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 11 |
| Airframe Hours | 5485 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Superior Leasing LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Grants Pass |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97526 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Superior Leasing LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Grants Pass |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 97526 |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Santa Clarita |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | WHP |
| Destination City | Los Angeles |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 6 2010 3:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| 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 | -- |