ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 68939
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| Date: | Monday 12 October 2009 |
| Time: | 08:50 |
| Type: |  McDonnell Douglas MD530F (369FF) |
| Owner/operator: | Pacific Rim Helicopters Llc |
| Registration: | N527SH |
| MSN: | 0064FF |
| Year of manufacture: | 1989 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 1883 hours |
| Engine model: | Rolls-Royce 250-C30S |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 18 miles southeast of Fossil, Oregon -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Cargo |
| Departure airport: | Spray, OR |
| Fossil, OR | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot of the helicopter was pulling a rope along a line of wood power poles, and placing the rope within the lowest traveler (pulley) attached to each power pole. The placement of the rope into the traveler required maneuvering the helicopter in close proximity to the pole, while the rope was attached to a long-line that was shorter than the distance from the top of the pole to the traveler that the rope was being placed in. The pilot had already placed the rope in the traveler on the first pole of the line, and had just completed the placement of the rope into the traveler on the second pole, when he began to maneuver the helicopter in order to proceed to the next pole. At the beginning of that maneuver, the pilot inadvertently allowed the helicopter to come close enough to the pole that he had just finished working on for its main rotor blades to come in contact with the pole. Immediately thereafter, all five of the main rotor blades separated from the helicopter, whereupon the helicopter's tail boom separated from its fuselage. The helicopter then fell to the down-sloping terrain near the base of the pole. No pre-accident anomalies were found with the helicopter's airframe, engine, or flight control system.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from a power pole to which he was connecting wire-pulling ropes.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
Location
Images:
Photo: NTSB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 13-Oct-2009 09:01 | slowkid | Added |
| 13-Oct-2009 21:34 | jorgetadeu7 | Updated |
| 20-Jul-2010 11:07 | harro | Updated [Time, Location, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:25 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 02-Dec-2017 17:05 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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