ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 45218
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| Date: | Thursday 22 May 2003 |
| Time: | 11:50 |
| Type: |  Bell UH-1H |
| Owner/operator: | Pacific Helicopters |
| Registration: | N3280U |
| MSN: | 66-16904/9098 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1967 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 11368 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming T53L-13BA |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Kahoolawe, HI -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | External load operation |
| Departure airport: | Kahoolawe, HI |
| Puunene, HI | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The commercial helicopter had delivered an external load, and was returning to another site with a 41-foot, unweighted external load cable still attached under the helicopter. A witness saw the helicopter overhead, and watched as the cable slapped the fuselage, and became entangled with the tail rotor. The tail rotor subsequently separated from the tail boom, and the helicopter rolled nearly inverted and crashed. Examination of the wreckage revealed cable witness marks on the tail boom and tail rotor blades. The commercial pilot had extensive flying experience conducting external load operations. The operator indicated it was not their standard procedure to have an unweighted cable attached to the helicopter for transition flights.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to remove the external load cable before the repositioning flight, which resulted in the cable striking the tail rotor in cruise flight.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB: https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20030630X00972&key=1
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Oct-2008 00:45 | ASN archive | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:24 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 08-Dec-2017 18:44 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 31-Dec-2020 10:12 | TB | Updated [Cn] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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