Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Delta Junction, Alaska 99737
Monday, August 5, 2013 18:05 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On August 5, 2013, about 1605 Alaska daylight time, a McDonnell Douglas/Hughes 500D helicopter, N134SH, sustained substantial damage during a forced landing following a loss of engine power, near the Pogo Gold Mine facility, about 38 miles Northeast of Delta Junction, Alaska. The helicopter was being operated by Soloy Helicopters LLC., Wasilla, Alaska, as a visual flight rules (VFR) external load flight under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 133. The certificated airline transport pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and company flight following was in effect. The flight departed from the Pogo Mine.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), on August 6, the operator's director of operations reported that the helicopter was being used to support exploratory gold mining operations, by transporting personnel and equipment to remote drilling sites.
During a telephone conversation with the NTSB IIC on August 7, the pilot reported that at the time of the accident he was transporting sections of water hose to a remote drill site on a 100-foot external load line that was attached to the helicopter’s belly-mounted cargo hook. He said that as he brought the helicopter to a stable hover over the remote tree-covered site where he intended to place the hose and as he began to position the load closer to an employee on the ground, all engine power was lost. The pilot entered an emergency hovering autorotation, turned the helicopter left, and selected a small open area between tall trees as an emergency landing site. During the descent, the helicopter's main rotor blades struck several trees as it touched down on the uneven, tundra-covered terrain, and the helicopter subsequently rolled to the right, sustaining substantial damage to the main rotor drive system, tail boom and fuselage.
The helicopter was equipped with a Rolls-Royce 250-C20 series engine. An NTSB postaccident examination of the engine is pending.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/5/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1805 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Delta Junction |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99737 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| 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 | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 1753 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PABI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1291 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| 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 | ANC FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 9 2013 6:19PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N134SH |
| NTSB Number | ANC13LA074 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | HUGHES |
| Aircraft Model | 500D |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 610969D |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | -- |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Wells Fargo Bank NW |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 260 N Charles Lindbergh Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | Salt Lake City |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84116 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Soloy Helicopters LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Wasilla |
| Operator State | AK |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| 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 | Delta Junction |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1800 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Delta Junction |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 9 2013 6:19PM |
| 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 | -- |