ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 233636
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| Date: | Thursday 5 March 2020 |
| Time: | 11:30 LT |
| Type: |  Eurocopter EC 130B4 |
| Owner/operator: | Helicopter Consultanats Of Maui LLC |
| Registration: | N11QK |
| MSN: | 3639 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2002 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 23034 hours |
| Engine model: | Turbomeca Arriel |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Leilani Estates, Big Island, HI -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | Hilo International Airport, HI (ITO/PHTO) |
| Hilo International Airport, HI (ITO/PHTO) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot was conducting a precautionary landing following the onset of a significant, high frequency vibration. As the helicopter slowed, he raised the collective and applied right tail rotor pedal, but the nose of the helicopter veered to the left. The pilot eventually applied full right tail rotor pedal, but the nose of the helicopter continued to the left. About 200 feet above ground level, with the right tail rotor pedal fully depressed, the helicopter began to spin to the left. The pilot attempted to stop the spin to no avail and eventually closed the throttle and performed a hovering autorotation. He stated that the helicopter descended, touched down hard, and subsequently rolled onto its right side, sustaining substantial damage.
A postaccident examination revealed that one of the 10 tail rotor fenestron blades had been liberated at the blade root, at the level of the blade's drain port; the blade root remained attached and installed to the fenestron hub. Visual examination of the nine remaining blades revealed three that had cracks aligned with the drain hole with features consistent with fatigue.
The investigation determined that the ruptured blade failure was a fatigue fracture that originated near the blade's drain hole; however, the fracture surface's origins were damaged, and the type of failure near the point of origin could not be determined. The water drain hole geometry and rib thickness were determined by the manufacturer to be the main factors in the development of the crack. Additional factors include blade loading stresses that were not anticipated during certification, and helicopter operations that involve sideslip maneuvers.
Probable Cause: A loss of control due to the fatigue fracture of a tail rotor fenestron blade due to the geometry of the water drain hole positioning on the rib.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB ANC20LA028
FAA register: https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=11QK
Location
Media:
After the onset of vibration, an air tour pilot attempted a precautionary landing but yaw control was lost. https://t.co/OjYCP65GBR #helicopter #accident #airworthiness #flightsafety #aviationsafety pic.twitter.com/k67Ye0KuCq
— Aerossurance (@Aerossurance) August 21, 2022
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-Mar-2020 23:26 | Geno | Added |
| 06-Mar-2020 01:36 | RobertMB | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Total occupants, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 06-Mar-2020 03:56 | RobertMB | Updated [Time] |
| 06-Mar-2020 15:52 | RobertMB | Updated [Registration, Cn, Source, Damage] |
| 07-Mar-2020 20:21 | Captain Adam | Updated [Location, Damage, Narrative] |
| 01-Jul-2020 21:18 | Aerossurance | Updated [Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 10-Mar-2021 20:09 | harro | Updated [[Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative]] |
| 08-May-2021 16:52 | harro | Updated [[[Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative]]] |
| 21-Aug-2022 09:45 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Aug-2022 13:44 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Embed code] |
| 21-Aug-2022 19:15 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Source, Narrative, Accident report] |
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