Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pomeroy, Washington 99347
Thursday, May 2, 2013 15:50 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Before the agricultural application flight, the pilot asked the ground crewman to refill the spray tank with 50 gallons of chemical solution; 10 gallons of aviation fuel was also added. Subsequently, the ground crewman signaled to the pilot that the helicopter was ready to depart. During the departure and while transitioning to forward flight, the low-rotor rpm horn activated, and the pilot immediately pushed the emergency dump button to lighten the load; however, the rpm continued to decrease, and the pilot initiated a run-on landing to a field. During the landing, the pilot was unable to maintain control as the left skid dug into the dirt, which resulted in the helicopter nosing over and coming to rest on its left side.
The pilot reported that he believed the amount of solution added to the tank was more than 50 gallons, which placed the helicopter outside of weight and balance and performance limitations. The pilot added that the spray tank sight glass is long and very shallow, and that, unless the helicopter is level, the sight glass reading is inaccurate. Additionally, when seated in the helicopter, it was not possible for the pilot to see the spray tank sight glass or know how much spray solution had been loaded into the tank. Therefore, the pilot had to rely either on the ground crewman or exit the helicopter after each load and visually check the load to ensure that the helicopter was loaded with the proper amount of chemical solution. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to ensure that the helicopter was properly loaded, which resulted in the helicopter being in excess of its maximum allowable gross weight and led to a loss of main rotor rpm on takeoff. Contributing to the accident were the ground crewman's inadvertent overloading of the helicopter and the design of the spray tank's visual sight glass, which did not allow the pilot to visually verify the amount of the spray tank load without exiting the helicopter.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/2/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1550 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Pomeroy |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99347 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 462911N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1172517W |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| 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 | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1442 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 19 |
| 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) | 30.48 |
| 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) | 32105 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 4 2013 10:33PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N442RN |
| NTSB Number | WPR13LA217 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ROBINSON |
| Aircraft Model | R44 II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 11047 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 18 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 30 |
| Airframe Hours | 1615 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jim D Pope |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lewiston |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83501 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Leading Edge Aviation |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Clarkston |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 99403 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Pomeroy |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1549 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Pomeroy |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 4 2013 10:33PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |