Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mcallen Medical Center Heli Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mcallen, Texas 78503
Monday, December 24, 2012 19:49 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The accident occurred as the air medical flight was departing a hospital heliport en route to pick up a patient. Another helicopter was parked off to the side of the helipad but within the fenced helipad area. Before boarding the departing helicopter, the pilot turned the main rotor blades on the parked helicopter to give him more room to maneuver on takeoff. During takeoff, the pilot was turning the helicopter into the wind and talking to an air traffic controller when he backed the helicopter into the main rotor blades of the parked helicopter. The pilot rolled the throttle to idle and conducted a hover autorotation back onto the helipad. The pilot later reported that he knew the parked helicopter was there but had forgotten about it. The accident helicopter sustained substantial damage to both tail rotor blades and one of the main rotor blades. The pilot was unable to hear the medical crew's warnings over the intercom because the microphone was keyed for the conversation with the air traffic controller. The operator’s general operations manual provides minimum clearance guidelines that state, in part, that minimum clearances for all helicopters will be at least 1/3 of the rotor diameter between the outboard tip of the rotor disc and any obstruction and at a distance great enough not to create a hazard to persons or property on the ground in non-secured areas. These guidelines were most likely met before the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance with a parked helicopter during takeoff.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/24/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1949 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | McAllen |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 78503 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 261111N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0981339W |
| Event Location Airport | McAllen Medical Center Heli |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KMFE |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| 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 | 1753 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 226 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MFE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 107 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Bright |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2100 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 21 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KMFE 142353Z 15015G21KT 10SM FEW021 24/19 A2 |
| 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) | 31033 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 12 2013 3:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | bowl |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N489AE |
| NTSB Number | CEN13CA114 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | 407 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | NO SERIES |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 54059 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5250 |
| 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 | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 3 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 780 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Capital Source Bank |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Chevy Chase |
| Aircraft Owner State | MD |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20815 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Air Evac EMS |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1001 Boardwalk Springs Place |
| Operator City | O'Fallon |
| Operator State | MO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 63368 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KMFE |
| Departure City | McAllen |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1949 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Laredo |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 25 2013 11:28AM |
| User who most recently changed record | sulp |
| 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 | Yes |
| Medical Flight | -- |