Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tallahassee, Florida 32310
Wednesday, July 4, 2012 3:40 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was operating the helicopter in night visual meteorological conditions in the early morning hours, after having driven about 6 hours and then flown about 3.5 hours immediately before the accident flight. He stated that he was in cruise flight about 600-800 feet above ground level and had been flying less than 10 minutes when, while turning over a lake, the pilot saw the clutch actuator light illuminate. The pilot reached for the circuit breaker box under the passenger seat to pull the clutch circuit breaker, and then felt "light in the seat." He stated that the helicopter was rapidly descending, and he pulled up on the collective to arrest the descent. After pulling on the collective, he received a low rotor rpm horn and then observed the surface of the lake reflecting the moonlight about 50 feet below the helicopter, as it continued to descend. The pilot pulled on the collective to soften the impact, and the helicopter came to rest in the lake. The pilot then egressed and swam to shore. Postaccident examination revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Operational testing of the clutch actuator revealed no anomalies. The reason for the illumination of the clutch actuator light could not be determined. It is likely that, while reaching down in an attempt to pull the clutch circuit breaker, with a lack of outside visual references due to the night conditions and the helicopter’s location over a lake, the pilot made an inadvertent cyclic input that resulted in the helicopter’s nose-down attitude and subsequent descent. The pilot's lengthy time awake and the time of the accident suggest that he may have been fatigued at the time of the event.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s failure to maintain awareness of the helicopter’s altitude while attempting to troubleshoot the clutch actuator warning light, which resulted in an inadvertent descent and impact with water. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's possible fatigue.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/4/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 340 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Tallahassee |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32310 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 303329N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0841344W |
| 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 | 353 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 211 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TLH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 81 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| 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) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 30965 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 25 2013 5:53PM |
| User who most recently changed record | gots |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N561CH |
| NTSB Number | ERA12LA429 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ROBINSON HELICOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | R44 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1963 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2500 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 29 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1336 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CAPITAL HELICOPTERS LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | TALLAHASSEE |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32308-6245 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | CAPITAL HELICOPTERS LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | TALLAHASSEE |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 32308-6245 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TLH |
| Departure City | Tallahassee |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 330 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | TLH |
| Destination City | Tallahassee |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 3 2013 1:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | vioa |
| 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 | -- |