Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Tehachapi Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tehachapi, California 93561
Thursday, March 27, 2014 1:40 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On March 27, 2014, about 0140 Pacific daylight time, a Bell OH-58A, N497E, collided with a highway near Tehachapi, California, after encountering instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The helicopter was registered to, and operated by, the Kern County Sheriff's Department as a public-use flight. The commercial pilot, tactical flight officer (TFO), single passenger, and a dog were not injured. The helicopter sustained substantial damage during the accident sequence. The cross-country flight departed Meadows Field Airport, Bakersfield, California, about 0120, with a planned destination of General William J Fox Airfield, Lancaster, California. Marginal visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the accident site, and no flight plan had been filed.
The purpose of the flight was to transport a dog from the Sheriff Department's Canine division to urgent care in Lancaster, after it was shot while on duty, about 3 hours prior to the accident.
The pilot stated that he arrived at the air division headquarters in Bakersfield about 0100, and was briefed on the mission by the current on-duty command pilot. They discussed the weather, and he confirmed that visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed at both the departure and arrival airports. He was aware that a weather front was moving through the area, and that he would most likely encounter IMC conditions while enroute. He planned to use Tehachapi airport as an alternate landing site should conditions deteriorate.
At 0120, they loaded the injured dog into the rear left footwell, along with the Canine Division Chief who was seated in the rear right seat. The departure was uneventful, but as they approached Tehachapi they encountered light rain, strong wind, and low clouds. Both the pilot and the TFO were wearing Night Vision Goggles (NVG's) throughout the flight.
The pilot decided to proceed, and wanted to see if Sand Canyon was passable. However, once they got beyond the lights of the city, he lost visual reference after flying into what appeared to be clouds. He reported flying at about 500 feet agl at that time, and was concerned that returning might cause them to collide with obstacles in the area such as wind turbines. He elected to slow the helicopter and initiate a gradual descent with the hope of exiting the clouds. During the descent he realized that the windshield had in fact fogged up, and as such, he turned on the demister. A short time later a highway suddenly came into view and the helicopter struck the ground.
The helicopter struck the highway surface, bounced back into the air, and rotated about 180 degrees. The pilot maintained a low hover and could now see the lights of Tehachapi ahead. The helicopter appeared to be handling normally, and was not vibrating or making any unusual sounds, so he elected to return to Tehachapi Airport. Before landing he asked the TFO to open the door to observe the skids; they appeared intact. The TFO attempted to utilize the Forward Looking Infrared Camera (FLIR) mounted on the nose, and rear-mounted "Nightsun" searchlight to assist with the landing, but they were both inoperative. The helicopter then landed uneventfully.
Subsequent examination revealed that the helicopter sustained substantial damage to the belly structure, with the skids having been spread about 2 feet beyond their normal stance. The FLIR and searchlight both sustained crush damage to their lower cowlings, and the tailskid appeared to have struck the ground.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/27/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 140 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Tehachapi |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93561 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 350722N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1182423W |
| Event Location Airport | TEHACHAPI MUNI |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TSP |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 114 |
| Airport Elevation | 4001 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 855 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KTSP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4001 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 18 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KTSP 270855Z AUTO 29013G18KT 8SM BKN005 BKN0 |
| 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) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA LAX 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 10 2014 4:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sime1 |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N497E |
| NTSB Number | WPR14TA149 |
| 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 | OH 58A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 69-16375 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3000 |
| 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 | 1 |
| 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 | KERN COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1350 NORRIS RD |
| Aircraft Owner City | BAKERSFIELD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 933082231 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | KERN COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 1350 NORRIS RD |
| Operator City | BAKERSFIELD |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 933082231 |
| 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 | BFL |
| Departure City | BAKERSFIELD |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 120 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | WJF |
| Destination City | LANCASTER |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 10 2014 4:44PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sime1 |
| 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 | -- |