Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fairbanks Internation Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
Sunday, January 15, 2012 14:23 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a hover test above the departure end of the runway, the flight test technician turned the hydraulics system off to simulate an in-flight hydraulic failure. During a series of prearranged hover maneuvers, the pilot began to hover the helicopter to the left, at which time, the cyclic and collective became very "stiff and ratchety," which was followed by a forward and left movement of the cyclic that the pilot was unable to physically overcome. The helicopter subsequently descended, the left skid struck the runway, and the helicopter rolled onto its left side, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage, tail boom, and main rotor drive system. A postaccident examination revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of control during a simulated hydraulic emergency, which resulted in an inadvertent dynamic rollover from the which the pilot could not recover.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/15/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1423 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | Fairbanks |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99701 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 644760N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1475060W |
| Event Location Airport | Fairbanks Internation |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FAI |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 439 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1432 Atlantic Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PAFA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 439 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | AST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -38 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| 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) | 31.05 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 32123 |
| NTSB Notification Source | ANC FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 29 2013 1:10PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | SP-SSW |
| NTSB Number | ANC12LA017 |
| 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 | PZL-SWIDNIK |
| Aircraft Model | SW-4 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 600401 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3968 |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 25 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 28 |
| Airframe Hours | 242 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | C126 |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PZL, Swidnik S.A. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Swidnik, Al Lotnikow Ploskich 1 |
| Aircraft Owner State | FN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | PL |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | PZL, Swidnik S.A. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Swidnik, Al Lotnikow Ploskich 1 |
| Operator State | FN |
| Operator Country | PL |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| 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) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | FAI |
| Departure City | Fairbanks |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1315 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | FAI |
| Destination City | Fairbanks |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 29 2013 1:10PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 02L |
| Runway Length | 11800 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |