Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Isidro, Texas 78582
Thursday, October 23, 2014 14:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On October 23, 2014, about 1400 central daylight time, a Bell model UH-1H helicopter, N72595, was substantially damaged when the left cabin sliding door separated during cruise flight and impacted one of the main rotor blades near San Isidro, Texas. The three crew members were not injured. The helicopter was registered to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a public use flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which was not operated on a flight plan. The flight originated from the Brooks County Airport (BKS), Falfurrias, Texas, about 1345. The intended destination was the McAllen Miller International Airport (MFE), McAllen, Texas, after conducting a routine law enforcement patrol flight.
The crew originally departed MFE about 1100 and completed a routine law enforcement patrol about 2 hours 15 minutes in duration without incident. The flight was operated with the pilot and co-pilot doors, and the main cabin quarter doors removed. The sliding main cabin doors were secured in the fully open position. The crew subsequently landed at BKS in order to refuel and eat lunch.
After refueling, the crew conducted a preflight inspection. During that inspection, the co-pilot and tactical team member (TTM), who were inspecting the left side of the helicopter, noted that the open door latch pin was missing from the left sliding door latch. The TTM reportedly discussed the missing pin with the co-pilot. The TTM stated that the co-pilot advised him that the pin was not required to be installed. The co-pilot stated that he had informed the pilot about the missing pin, but he was not sure that the pilot adequately understood him.
The crew reported that about 15 minutes after departing BKS, during cruise flight, they heard a loud bang and the pilot felt a momentary upset in the helicopter's flight path. The helicopter performed normally after the event; however, the pilot elected to perform a precautionary landing to an open field. During the post-flight inspection, the crew determined that the left sliding cabin door had departed the aircraft. It was subsequently located separated into two pieces about 1 mile northeast of the landing site. One main rotor blade sustained substantial damage consistent with an in-flight impact with the door assembly.
A postaccident examination did not reveal any anomalies consistent with a failure of the door assembly or airframe structure that would have led to the separation. The retaining angle remained attached to the door and appeared undeformed. The door latch pin had separated from the lanyard and was located lying on the aft cabin floor. The exact reason that the pin had separated from the lanyard before the accident flight could not be determined.
The helicopter operating handbook permitted flight up to 120 knots with the door properly secured in the open position. In order to properly secure the door, it must be in the full open position with the door latch pin installed. In the event that the door inadvertently opened in-flight, the airspeed should be reduced below 50 knots in order to allow the door to be closed. If the door could not be closed, then it must be fully opened and secured by the open door latch.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/23/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | San Isidro |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 78582 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 263545N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0983732E |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1435 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 100 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EBG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 80 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 28 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.06 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | US Customs & Border Protection |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 12 2014 10:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sort |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N72595 |
| NTSB Number | CEN15TA035 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELL |
| Aircraft Model | UH1H |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 73-21769 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 10500 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | 1 |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 27 2014 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 120 |
| Airframe Hours | 5736 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | U. S. Departement of Homeland Security |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW |
| Aircraft Owner City | WASHINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20229 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | U. S. Customs and Border Protection |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | WASHINGTON |
| Operator State | DC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 20229 |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BKS |
| Departure City | Falfurrias |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1345 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MFE |
| Destination City | McAllen |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 17 2014 3:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sort |
| 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 | -- |