ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 42711
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| Date: | Tuesday 5 October 1999 |
| Time: | 12:00 LT |
| Type: |  Bell 206B JetRanger |
| Owner/operator: | Third Coast Aviation, Inc. |
| Registration: | N1285S |
| MSN: | 1061 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1973 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 8275 hours |
| Engine model: | Allison 250-C20B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Centreville, Alabama -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Agricultural |
| Departure airport: | Centreville, AL |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Ground crew support personnel observed the aerial spray helicopter lift off at about 1150 with the pilot and tree tract owner aboard for the purpose of defining the tract boundaries. Lift off appeared and sounded normal. Thirty minutes later, absent any contact or sight of the rotorcraft, the ground crew became concerned and started searching. At 1504, the wreckage was found by police helicopter search near the edge of a clearing. Postcrash examination of the crash site revealed the rotorcraft collided with two large trees before impact with the terrain about 60 feet into the clearing. Postcrash examination of the engine, drive-train, transmission, airframe, rotors, and flight controls revealed the engine was not producing power, precrash. Examination of the fuel system revealed the airframe fuel filter's wing-nut drain had been positioned and locked in the 'drain' position, and there was very little fuel aboard, either in the fuel cell or in the engine's fuel lines.
Probable Cause: The pilot's inadequate preflight inspection of the helicopter's fuel system resulting in an in-flight loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of overboard porting of fuel when the airframe fuel filter was left in the 'drain and locked' position and the subsequent collision with trees during an attempted autorotation.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB MIA00FA003
FAA register: NTSB: https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20001212X20004&key=1
FAA register: 2. http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=1285S
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Oct-2008 10:30 | ASN archive | Added |
| 12-Apr-2015 15:39 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:24 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 14-Dec-2017 09:40 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 07-Apr-2024 17:31 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Source, Narrative, Category, Accident report] |
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