Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Portland-Troutdale Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Troutdale, Oregon 97060
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 15:40 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that, about 12 minutes into a repositioning flight following a maintenance task performed by a company mechanic, he felt something that he described as similar to a bird strike. The pilot subsequently elected to make a precautionary landing in order to assess the situation. During an examination of the helicopter after the uneventful landing, the pilot discovered that a portion of the tail rotor drive shaft cover was missing and that one main rotor blade and two tail rotor blades had been damaged. Postaccident discussions with the company’s director of maintenance determined that the maintenance staff (who had recently performed a maintenance inspection) and the pilot likely looked at the tail rotor drive shaft cover prior to the accident flight and presumed that it was secure or had been secured by someone else; however, it was not secure and came off during flight. Following the accident, the company implemented a primary mechanic position into its Field Mechanic Procedures in order to mitigate a similar occurrence.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The in-flight separation of the tail rotor drive shaft cover as a result of maintenance personnel not ensuring that it was secured after a maintenance inspection; also causal was the pilot’s inadequate preflight inspection of the helicopter.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/27/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1540 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Troutdale |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97060 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 453257N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1222357W |
| Event Location Airport | Portland-Troutdale |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TTD |
| 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 | 39 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TTD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 39 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4800 |
| 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) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 29712 |
| NTSB Notification Source | 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 | Mar 15 2012 1:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N808LF |
| NTSB Number | WPR11LA352 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | EUROCOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | AS 350 B3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4983 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5225 |
| 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 | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 27 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | 282 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PNC Band NA Trustee |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Pittsburg |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 15222 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Air Methods |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Englewood |
| Operator State | CO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 80112 |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | UAO |
| Departure City | Aurora |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1528 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | DLS |
| Destination City | Dallesport |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 15 2012 1:57PM |
| 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 | -- |