Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Los Banos, California 93635
Sunday, August 14, 2011 12:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During an agricultural application flight, the helicopter had just departed from the elevated landing pad when it experienced a loss of lift, which the pilot thought was a loss of engine power. The pilot attempted to arrest the descent but was unsuccessful before the helicopter hit the trees. Examination of the engine revealed no pre-impact mechanical malfunctions that would have prevented normal operations. Postaccident examination noted that the compressor vanes and both main rotor blades were layered with a substance that had the consistency of peanut butter. As a result of the contamination, the compressor would not operate at its optimum level, which affected the power output performance of the engine. The material on the main rotor blades would also have affected the helicopter’s lift performance. The examination did not reveal what the substance was, but the airplane flew through agricultural products, which may have led to the substance building up on the blades and compressor over time. Had the pilot done a preflight inspection, he may have noticed the contamination in the engine compressor section and the main rotor blades. Because the helicopter was departing from an elevated land platform, after liftoff, the helicopter was immediately out of ground effect, which resulted in an immediate descent that the pilot was unable to arrest.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s inadequate preflight, and contamination of both the engine compressor section and the main rotor blades, which resulted in reduced performance of the engine and rotor system.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/14/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1245 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Los Banos |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93635 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 370000N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1205200W |
| 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 | 1253 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MCE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 155 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 17 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 23 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.88 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KMCE 141953Z AUTO 33017G23KT 10SM CLR 34/05 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 30444 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA AWP 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 1 2012 3:47PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N475AL |
| NTSB Number | WPR11LA379 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | 47G-3B-2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 6675 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2950 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 83 |
| Airframe Hours | 8034 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Double Springs Helicopters |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Los Banos |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93635 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Double Springs Helicopters |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Los Banos |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 93635 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| 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 | Los Banos |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1245 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Los Banos |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 8 2012 12:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |