Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gardnerville, Nevada 89410
Wednesday, August 27, 2014 16:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On August 27, 2014, about 1230 Pacific daylight time, a Robinson R22, N4187W, landed hard in a ravine about 5 miles south of Gardnerville, Nevada. The pilot/owner was operating the helicopter under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The private pilot sustained minor injuries; one passenger sustained serious injuries. The helicopter sustained substantial damage during the accident sequence. The local personal flight departed Gardnerville at an unknown time. Visual (VMC) meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
The pilot reported to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aviation safety inspector that the helicopter was about 20 feet above ground level when he felt a vibration. The helicopter then spun to the right and descended into the terrain. The FAA inspector reported that after he surveyed the accident site, it was revealed that the helicopter had struck 4 small cables attached to a pulley system that was strung across a river, which resulted in the pilot losing control of the helicopter, followed by the uncontrolled descent and impact with terrain.
The helicopter was recovered to a secured location for further examination.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/27/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1600 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Gardnerville |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89410 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 384906N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1194125E |
| 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 | 1235 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 345 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MEV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4722 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 11 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.25 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA AWP Communications Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 4 2014 10:14PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4187W |
| NTSB Number | WPR14LA356 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ROBINSON HELICOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | R22 BETA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | BETA |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4399 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1369 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | OHO CATTLE CO INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | KLAMATH FALLS |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97601 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Doyle Lee Holden |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Gardnerville |
| Operator State | NV |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 89460 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NA |
| Departure City | Gardnerville |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1130 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | NA |
| Destination City | Gardnerville |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 4 2014 10:14PM |
| 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 | -- |