Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Arvin, California 93203
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 18:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was on the last local aerial application flight of the day. Prior to starting the job, he flew above and around the field to check for obstructions and power lines. The field had numerous electrical feeder wires, with north-south power lines on the west and east ends of the 1/2-mile-long field. This application required the material be applied while making east-west passes above the feeder wires and oil pumps. Upon maneuvering onto the last eastbound pass, he applied aft cyclic to climb above the location of feeder wires. Several seconds later, he felt a sudden jarring and vibration emitting from the rear portion of the helicopter. He felt that he had possibly struck a wire that he did not see, and continued flying the helicopter in an eastbound direction to perform an emergency landing. As he began slowing, the front of the helicopter began yawing to the right in a southeast direction and it was headed towards a triple strand of east-west power lines and a small oil pump 25 feet south of the electrical lines. In anticipation of a second wire strike, he closed the throttle and began an autorotation prior to the helicopter striking the east-west power lines. It came to rest in an upright position facing in a southwest direction. He could hear the engine operating and performed emergency engine shutdown procedures. Visual examination revealed that the tail rotor made contact with the first set of power lines and separated along with its gearbox. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the main rotor blades and fuselage after the second contact.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from wires during aerial application maneuvers.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/29/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1830 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Arvin |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93203 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 351831N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1185016W |
| 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 | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1854 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 300 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KBFL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 507 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 14 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 30 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| 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 |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25540 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA AWP 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 12:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N175SJ |
| NTSB Number | WPR09CA220 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | OH-58A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 70-15529 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| 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 | 2 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | San Joaquin Helicopters |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1407 S. Lexington |
| Aircraft Owner City | Delano |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93215 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | San Joaquin Helicopters |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 1407 S. Lexington |
| Operator City | Delano |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 93215 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Delano |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1730 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Delano |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 4 2009 4:58PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |