Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Loop, Texas 79342
Sunday, October 21, 2012 13:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Before the accident flight, the pilot asked for the weights of passengers, fueled the helicopter accordingly, and then flew to pick up the passengers. However, when the pilot arrived to pick up the passengers, they appeared to be heavier than the weights he had used for them in his preflight planning. The pilot reported that he was able to lift off and bring the helicopter to a hover, so the helicopter seemed to have sufficient power for takeoff. However, as the helicopter flew forward over a thicket, the main rotor rpm began to decrease. The pilot lowered the nose to increase rpm. The rpm did not increase, and the helicopter impacted terrain hard and sustained substantial damage when its tailboom separated. The pilot estimated that the helicopter’s weight at the time of the accident was inside the envelope for in-ground-effect operations, but was outside the envelope for out-of-ground-effect operations. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions with the helicopter during the flight. The pilot stated that he should have requested that one person remain on the ground until more fuel was burned off.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s inadequate performance calculations, which resulted in an overweight takeoff for the conditions and the subsequent hard impact with terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/21/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Loop |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 79342 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 325133N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1021721W |
| 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 | 1250 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HOB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3661 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 14 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.95 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KHOB 211750Z 22010G14KT 10SM SKC 28/03 A2995 |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 30739 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Comm Center - Trooper Barrient |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 5 2012 2:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | male |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7507K |
| NTSB Number | CEN13CA022 |
| 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 | 1255 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2400 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 31 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1514.5 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Lange Helicopters Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Angelo |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76906 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Lange Helicopters Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | San Angelo |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 76906 |
| 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) | Aerial Observation |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Loop |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Loop |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 5 2012 1:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | male |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |