Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Columbia, Maryland 21044
Thursday, May 30, 2013 23:07 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a routine police patrol flight, while about 600 feet above the ground, the helicopter suddenly yawed to the left and the red “ENGINE OUT” warning light illuminated. The engine lost all power and the pilot performed an autorotation landing on a nearby football field. While avoiding obstacles, the helicopter landed hard, resulting in substantial damage to the airframe. A postaccident examination of the engine revealed no damage or obvious reason for the loss of power.
The engine’s electronic control unit (ECU) was removed and was shipped to the manufacturer’s facility for evaluation and testing. The examination of the ECU revealed that the engine was operating normally until an unexpected activation of the full authority digital electronic control overspeed protection system fuel reduction solenoid, which is internal to the ECU, resulting in an uncommanded in-flight engine shutdown. A subsequent ECU functional review confirmed that a short circuit failure of a tantalum capacitor was the source of the ECU malfunction. After the accident, Bell Helicopter issued an Alert Service Bulletin and Rolls-Royce issued an accompanying Commercial Engine Bulletin that included the installation of an overspeed adapter to reduce the likelihood of a false overspeed activation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The short circuit failure of a tantalum capacitor, internal to the engine’s electronic control unit, resulting in an uncommanded shutdown of the engine in flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/30/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2307 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Columbia |
| Event State | MARYLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 21044 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391258N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0765216W |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2254 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 105 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BWI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 146 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| 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) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| 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) | 30.13 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KBWI 310254Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 26/19 A3013 RMK AO2 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 32657 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Eastern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 2 2014 2:49PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N407HC |
| NTSB Number | ERA13TA261 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | 407 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 53745 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5250 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 9 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 18 |
| Airframe Hours | 1930 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | STATE OF MARYLAND |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 11226 SCAGGSVILLE RD |
| Aircraft Owner City | LAUREL |
| Aircraft Owner State | MD |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20723-2012 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Howard County Police Department |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 11226 SCAGGSVILLE RD |
| Operator City | LAUREL |
| Operator State | MD |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 20723-2012 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | FME |
| Departure City | Fort Meade |
| Departure State | MD |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2210 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | FME |
| Destination City | Fort Meade |
| Destination State | MD |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 2 2014 2:49PM |
| 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 | -- |