Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Breakaway Park Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cedar Park, Texas 78613
Sunday, September 13, 2009 14:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was approximately 400 feet above the ground on a normal straight-in landing to a paved runway. At an airspeed of 45 miles per hour the pilot heard a snap and the helicopter began to spin. The pilot entered an autorotation and said he was concentrating on just “trying to keep the helicopter as flat as possible”. The helicopter struck the trees in a nose-down attitude. There was no fuel spill and no postcrash fire. The helicopter was substantially damaged and the pilot, who was the only occupant, sustained minor injuries. The Texas State Trooper who responded said that the tail rotor gearbox was missing from the area of the main wreckage. By the next day residents in the area had found a single tail rotor blade and, several hundred feet away, they found the other tail rotor blade still attached to the tail rotor hub and tail rotor gearbox. Photographs of the separated tail rotor blade show that the skin had ripped away from all three blade grip bolt holes. A postcrash examination of the helicopter failed to reveal why the tail rotor blades and gearbox separated from the aircraft.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An in-flight separation of the tail rotor blades and the tail rotor gearbox for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/13/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1430 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Cedar Park |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 78613 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 303115N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0974635W |
| Event Location Airport | Breakaway Park Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 40XS |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 897 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1428 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 256 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KRYW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1231 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1700 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.79 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KRYW 131928z AUTO 31005KT 7SM SCT017 BKN 030 OVC 0 |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 26267 |
| NTSB Notification Source | SW 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 | Nov 3 2009 1:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | bowl |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N555BB |
| NTSB Number | CEN09CA584 |
| 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 | YATES W/LAZAR M |
| Aircraft Model | Safari Helicopter |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | BB2077 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1540 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 18 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 135 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | YATES W/LAZAR M |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 12521 SPLIT RAIL PKWY |
| Aircraft Owner City | AUSTIN |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 78750-1157 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | LAZAR MARK A |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 12521 SPLIT RAIL PKWY |
| Operator City | AUSTIN |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 78750-1157 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 40XS |
| Departure City | Cedar Park |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 40XS |
| Destination City | Cedar Park |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 7 2009 4:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | latt |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 15 |
| Runway Length | 2900 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |