Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Turtle Bay Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Kahuku, Hawaii 96731
Friday, November 20, 2009 10:20 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was positioned on a landing platform. Four passengers had boarded the helicopter for a sightseeing tour. The pilot brought the engine up to flight idle, preparing for takeoff, when the left rear landing skid strut collapsed. The helicopter tilted to the left rear, and the tail skid and vertical stabilizer struck the ground and sustained damage. The tail rotor blades also struck the ground. The pilot shut down the engine and stopped the rotor using the rotor brake. A postaccident examination of the left rear landing gear strut revealed that the strut fractured at the bolt hole where the strut was attached to the drag brace. The struts had been inspected 13 days (30.2 flight hours) prior to the accident as part of a 100-hour inspection in accordance with the manufacturer’s maintenance inspection program. Examination of the broken strut (left rear) revealed that it fractured due to a fatigue crack that initiated from the circumference of one of the bolt holes used to secure the strut to the drag brace. The intact strut (right rear) was also examined and found to have fatigue cracks growing outwards from the circumference of the two bolt holes used to secure the strut to the drag brace. Additionally, the diameters of the bolt holes were larger than the maximum allowed as outlined in the maintenance manual. The right strut was installed on an exemplar airframe in order to determine if any play could be identified in the strut. The 100-hour landing gear inspection was performed and the strut exhibited play, which according to the manufacturer’s maintenance manual requires removal and additional inspections.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The fatigue failure of the landing gear strut and maintenance personnel’s failure to perform an adequate inspection of the landing gear.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/20/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1020 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | Kahuku |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96731 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 214217N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1580020W |
| Event Location Airport | Turtle Bay |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HI58 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| 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 | 1055 Hawaii Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PHHI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 13 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 14 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | HST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 80 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.09 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 28081 |
| 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 | Mar 14 2011 4:32PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N551CR |
| NTSB Number | WPR10LA060 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | MCDONNELL DOUGLAS HELI CO |
| Aircraft Model | 369E |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0534E |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3000 |
| 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 | Nov 7 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 30 |
| Airframe Hours | 11392 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | K & S HELICOPTERS INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO BOX 5371 |
| Aircraft Owner City | KAILUA KONA |
| Aircraft Owner State | HI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 96745-5371 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | K & S HELICOPTERS INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | PO BOX 5371 |
| Operator City | KAILUA KONA |
| Operator State | HI |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 96745-5371 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | HI58 |
| Departure City | Kahuku |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1020 |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | HI58 |
| Destination City | Turtle Bay |
| Destination State | HI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2011 2:38PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |