Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bountiful, Utah
Wednesday, February 5, 2014 14:30 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On February 5, 2014, about 1430 mountain standard time, a Bell 206B helicopter, N3211N, was substantially damaged when it rolled onto its right side during the initial phase of an attempted liftoff from a remote, snow-covered landing zone (LZ) in the mountains near Bountiful, Utah. Neither the flight instructor nor the pilot under instruction was injured. The instructional flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The helicopter was operated by the Salt Lake City Utah division of Upper Limit Aviation, which was a Part 141 certificated training facility. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no FAA flight plan was filed for the flight.
According to both pilots, a portion of the flight was being used to practice landings on, and liftoffs from, snow at a remote LZ, and they had already completed one landing and liftoff at the same LZ. After the second landing, which was uneventful, the helicopter sat on the snow-covered ground for a few minutes before the pilots initiated the next liftoff. Just after engine power application, the right forward skid sank into the snow, and the pilots were unable to arrest the ensuing rollover.
Winds at the LZ were light, and the helicopter nose was pointed approximately into the wind for the landing and liftoff attempt. The helicopter was equipped with "tundra pads" mounted near the rear downtubes of the landing skids. Initial site examination by company personnel indicated that there was a soft layer of snow about 5 to 6 inches thick, that this overlaid a base of about 12 to 18 inches of more soft snow, and that the two layers were separated by a crust of firmer snow.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) information indicated that the helicopter was manufactured in 1984, and was equipped with a Rolls-Royce (Allison) 250-C20 series turboshaft engine. The helicopter was recovered from the LZ the day after the accident, and was examined by FAA inspectors. The pilots did not report, and the FAA inspectors did not observe, any indications of any pre-existing mechanical deficiencies or failures. Damage to the main rotor blades and the tail boom was consistent with one or both blades striking the tail boom at some point during the rollover.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/5/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1430 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Bountiful |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 405240N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1114918W |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | -- |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAANWM ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 11 2014 5:33PM |
| User who most recently changed record | huhm |
| Basic weather conditions | -- |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3211N |
| NTSB Number | WPR14LA113 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | -- |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | 206 - B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3808 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | Mark Lancaster |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Houston |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 77207 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Upper Limit Aviation |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Salt Lake City |
| Operator State | UT |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | -- |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | -- |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | -- |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 11 2014 5:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | huhm |
| 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 | -- |