Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fossil, Oregon 97830
Monday, October 12, 2009 8:50 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of the helicopter was pulling a rope along a line of wood power poles, and placing the rope within the lowest traveler (pulley) attached to each power pole. The placement of the rope into the traveler required maneuvering the helicopter in close proximity to the pole, while the rope was attached to a long-line that was shorter than the distance from the top of the pole to the traveler that the rope was being placed in. The pilot had already placed the rope in the traveler on the first pole of the line, and had just completed the placement of the rope into the traveler on the second pole, when he began to maneuver the helicopter in order to proceed to the next pole. At the beginning of that maneuver, the pilot inadvertently allowed the helicopter to come close enough to the pole that he had just finished working on for its main rotor blades to come in contact with the pole. Immediately thereafter, all five of the main rotor blades separated from the helicopter, whereupon the helicopter's tail boom separated from its fuselage. The helicopter then fell to the down-sloping terrain near the base of the pole. No pre-accident anomalies were found with the helicopter's airframe, engine, or flight control system.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from a power pole to which he was connecting wire-pulling ropes.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/12/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 850 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Fossil |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97830 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 445111N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1195616W |
| 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 | Witness |
| 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) | 2 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 27170 |
| 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 | Aug 24 2010 1:12PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N527SH |
| NTSB Number | WPR10FA012 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | MCDONNELL DOUGLAS HELI CO |
| Aircraft Model | 369FF |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0064FF |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3100 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 15 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1883 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PACIFIC RIM HELICOPTERS LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO BOX 89 |
| Aircraft Owner City | JACKSONVILLE |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97530-0089 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | PACIFIC RIM HELICOPTERS LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | PO BOX 89 |
| Operator City | JACKSONVILLE |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 97530-0089 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure City | Spray |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 830 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Fossil |
| Destination State | OR |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 15 2010 5:05PM |
| 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 | -- |