Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
New Athens, Illinois 62264
Thursday, May 12, 2011 15:17 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The helicopter was being used for agricultural spraying of a wheat field. It had just taken off from a support truck for another spraying circuit when the support truck workers heard a noise, looked in the direction of the helicopter, and saw the helicopter spinning without its tail boom attached. The terrain in the area of the accident site consisted of rolling hills. At the top of a hill along the route of flight, several spray nozzles from the helicopter’s spray boom were found on the ground. The main wreckage of the helicopter was located about 250 feet further along the route of flight. The tail rotor and the aft section of the tail boom were found between the spray nozzles and the main wreckage. Examination of the wreckage revealed evidence that the main rotor blade had struck the tail boom severing it from the helicopter. Further examination found no preimpact defects of the helicopter, its engine, control system, or drive system. Data downloaded from an on-board global positioning system (GPS) showed that the helicopter took off from the support truck and headed in a westerly direction and accelerated to about 52 miles per hour. The GPS track passed over the location where the spray nozzles were found. The recorded altitude from the GPS was below the elevation of the surrounding terrain. Therefore, the altitude information from the GPS was not accurate enough to use for flight analysis. Based on the available information, it is likely that the pilot inadvertently flew the helicopter into the rising terrain, which resulted in the main rotor blades flexing downward and severing the tail boom. Once the tail boom was severed, the pilot would not have had any anti-torque control and would not have been able to prevent the helicopter from spinning uncontrollably.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s failure to attain sufficient altitude to clear terrain while maneuvering.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/12/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1517 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | New Athens |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 62264 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 382034N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0895504W |
| 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 | 1955 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 15 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BLV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 459 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 13 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.85 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KBLV 121655Z AUTO 28009KT 10SM CLR 28/18 A29 |
| 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) | 30395 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-STL-FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 29 2012 7:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | snyg |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9263Y |
| NTSB Number | CEN11FA337 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | OH-58C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 69-16239 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 28 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 64 |
| Airframe Hours | 12695 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | COUCH HELICOPTER SERVICE INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO BOX 42 |
| Aircraft Owner City | WALCOTT |
| Aircraft Owner State | AR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 72474-0042 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | COUCH HELICOPTER SERVICE INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | PO BOX 42 |
| Operator City | WALCOTT |
| Operator State | AR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 72474-0042 |
| Operator Code | 2CSG |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | New Athens |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | New Athens |
| Destination State | IL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 5 2012 4:44PM |
| User who most recently changed record | brajo |
| 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 | -- |