ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 290731
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| Date: | Thursday 19 November 2015 |
| Time: | 12:50 LT |
| Type: |  Eurocopter EC 135P2+ |
| Owner/operator: | Reach Air Medical Services, LLC |
| Registration: | N36RX |
| MSN: | 0859 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2009 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 2812 hours |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney PW206B2 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Apple Valley, California -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Standing |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | Apple Valley, CA |
| Apple Valley, CA | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
According to the airline transport pilot, firefighting personnel were using the helicopter for training to simulate patient loading and unloading. The training consisted of multiple takeoffs and landings from the training center landing site. The pilot reported that, during the third landing, when the helicopter was between 2 and 3 ft above ground level, he felt it shudder unexpectedly. The pilot immediately landed and shut down the helicopter without further incident. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
A postflight examination revealed that a towel had been ingested into the fenestron, which resulted in substantial damage to the fenestron tail rotor blades, fenestron housing body, tailboom, and tail rotor drive shaft flex couplings. The pilot reported that the towel had migrated from an unsecured storage container near the landing site. The investigation revealed that, when the towel was ingested, the fenestron hub fairing detached from the hub body, which was then ingested by the fenestron tail rotor blades. The operator's director of maintenance reported that a postaccident examination revealed that all of the main rotor blades "received a small amount of [foreign object damage] FOD…at middle cord line near the tips" and that the "damage was the result of FOD from the Fenestron [hub fairing ingestion] after the towel was ingested." This evidence indicates that the hub fairing body becoming detached due to the ingestion of the towel contributed to the severity of the damage.
Probable Cause: The ingestion of a towel from an unsecured storage container at the landing site into the helicopter's fenestron during the landing.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB GAA16LA056
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 06-Oct-2022 18:50 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
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