Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Middletown, Delaware 19709
Wednesday, August 1, 2012 9:00 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On August 1, 2012, about 0900 eastern daylight time a Sikorsky S-58JT, N126GW, operated by Aircrane Inc., was substantially damaged when it incurred a failure of a tailrotor blade in Middletown, Delaware. The certificated commercial pilot was not injured. No flight plan had been filed for the local commercial flight conducted under Title14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 133.
According to the pilot, on the morning of the accident flight, he had already flown two other external load "lifts" to place two 2,900 pound air conditioning units on the roof of a warehouse. On the third lift, the helicopter began to vibrate and started to rotate about its vertical axis. The pilot attempted to stop the rotation but could not, so he dropped the cable with the attached air conditioner onto the roof, and moved the helicopter away from the warehouse. He then picked up forward speed, turned to the right to line up with a street, and did a roll on landing.
Post accident examination of the helicopter by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the entire aft portion of one of the tail rotor blades was missing. Further examination revealed that it had separated at a point just aft of the broken tailrotor blade's spar where a bond line existed.
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, the pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for helicopter and instrument-helicopter. He also held type ratings for the S-58 and S-61. His most recent FAA second-class medical certificate was issued on January 3, 2012. He reported that he had accrued 16,500 total hours of flight experience, of which, 7,000 hours were in the accident helicopter make and model.
According to FAA and maintenance records, the helicopter was manufactured in 1959. Its last continuous airworthiness inspection was completed on July 31, 2012. At the time of the accident the helicopter had accrued 11,064.7 hours of operation.
The separated aft portion of the broken tailrotor blade was later recovered from the roof of the warehouse by the operator. All four tailrotor blades including the seperated aft portion from the broken blade were retained by the NTSB for further examination.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/1/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 900 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Middletown |
| Event State | DELAWARE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 19709 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 392632N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0754353W |
| 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 | 851 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 45 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ILG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 80 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| 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) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | Philadephia FAA FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 15 2012 12:04PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N126GW |
| NTSB Number | ERA12LA493 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | SIKORSKY |
| Aircraft Model | S-58JT |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 581124 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 12500 |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 31 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 11065 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AIRCRANE INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | WINDER |
| Aircraft Owner State | GA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 30680-6400 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | AIRCRANE INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | WINDER |
| Operator State | GA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 30680-6400 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | External Load |
| 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) | External Load |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Middletown |
| Departure State | DE |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 830 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Middletown |
| Destination State | DE |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 15 2012 12:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| 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 | -- |