ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 217561
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| Date: | Thursday 16 September 2010 |
| Time: | 13:30 |
| Type: |  Robinson R44 Raven II |
| Owner/operator: | Robert C. Durham |
| Registration: | N2153S |
| MSN: | 10004 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2002 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 729 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming IO-540-AE1A5 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Pole Line Road, southeast of Mammoth, Mono County, California -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | |
| Departure airport: | Eastern Sierra Regional Airport, Bishop, California (BIH/KBIH)) |
| Truckee-Tahoe Airport, Truckee, California (TRK/KTRK) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On September 16, 2010, about 13:30 PDT (Pacific Daylight Time), a Robinson Helicopter Company R44 Raven II, N2153S, collided with terrain and rolled over during an emergency landing near Pole Line Road, southeast of Mammoth Lakes, near Deer Springs Road, Mammoth, Mono County, 35 miles north of Bishop, California (at approximate coordinates 37'78.7222"N, 118'84.1389"W).
The pilot was operating the helicopter under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The two occupants worked for Chesapeake Bay Helicopters, contracted by Southern California Edison. The certificated private pilot and passenger sustained serious injuries, and were taken via helicopter, from Asplundh Construction Corp. working on some power lines in the area, to Mammoth Airport where an ambulance was waiting to transport them to Mammoth Hospital for evaluation.
The helicopter sustained substantial damage. The crash caused a small brush fire that was contained and burned approximately 1.5 acres. Fire crews stayed at the crash site over night for security of the area. The cross-country flight departed Eastern Sierra Regional Airport, (BIH) Bishop, California, about 13:00 PDT, with a planned destination of Truckee-Tahoe Airport (TRK), Truckee, California. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the accident leg.
The pilot reported that at 06:00 PDT on the day of the accident he and his passenger departed in the helicopter from their residence in Benson, Arizona. He had serviced the helicopter with 100 LL aviation gasoline at a local airport the day prior, and subsequently filled the tanks to capacity that morning using additional aviation fuel stored in a gas can. They departed with the intention of performing intermediate fuel stops at Lake Havasu and Bishop. According to the pilot, the first leg of the trip took about 2.5 hours. About 5 miles from Lake Havasu he observed the low fuel warning indicator illuminate. He made a straight-in approach to land, and according to fuel receipts, at 0907 he serviced the helicopter with 45.9 gallons of 100 low-lead aviation gasoline. After refueling, he visually examined the fuel quality at the fuel drain points, and checked the helicopter for fuel leaks but did not observe any anomalies. The airport manager stated that he heard the pilot declaring a fuel emergency over the UNICOM (the common traffic advisory frequency) prior to landing at the airport.
The pilot reported that the fuel consumption was higher than he had experienced on prior flights, and for that reason he elected to continue the flight, but make a second intermediary fuel stop at Jean, Nevada. He canceled his VFR flight plan due to the additional stop, and then departed for Jean. After arrival, he serviced the helicopter with 14.86 gallons of fuel, and again checked for both fuel leaks and fuel quality at the fuel drain points with no anomalies noted.
While at Bishop they serviced the fuel tanks to capacity with the addition of 26.42 gallons of fuel, ate lunch at a restaurant located on the airfield, and departed.
About 30 minutes after takeoff, at an altitude of 8,500 feet mean sea level (msl), the pilot began to experience stomach cramps. He landed the helicopter about 8,600 feet in a meadow on a flat area of the southern slopes of Glass Mountain. He reported that the winds were calm in the landing area. He applied the control friction locks, asked the passenger to monitor the controls, and with the engine still running, he exited. After relieving himself, he entered the helicopter and prepared for departure.
The pilot raised the helicopter into a 2-3 foot hover, rotated it to the left, and began to initiate a departure downhill while following the shallow descending terrain. He held the helicopter between 2-3 feet agl and began to build airspeed to about 8 knots in anticipation of entering translational lift. He reported that the helicopter appeared to be performing normally, and he was able to maintain between 23.5 and 24 inches of manifold pressure. The helicopter continued to accelerate through to 10 knots and shortly thereafter, prior to entering translational lift, he observed the auxiliary fuel pump warning indicator illuminate with a simultaneous reduction in rotor rpm. He then lowered the collective and raised the nose with the intention of performing a run-on landing. He observed a sage-brush off the nose as the helicopter skids made contact with the ground. The helicopter then tipped slightly forward, and then rolled to the right, in a manner that he described as consistent with a dynamic rollover. The main rotor blades then struck the ground and were followed by several loud bang sounds. The cabin then became engulfed in fuel, which continued to spray forward about 10 feet. The entire cabin was then consumed in fire. The pilot extricated himself from the helicopter and assisted the passenger. They were both partially engulfed in flames and rolled around in the dirt in an attempt to extinguish themselves. A few seconds later a surge of flames erupted from the helicopter, re-igniting the pilot and his passenger. The pilot extinguished the flames on his passenger, who now appeared to be more seriously injured, and secured her upwind.
The flight became the subject of an ALNOT after a friend reported that they had not arrived in Truckee. Records from the sheriff's department indicated that a fire truck was dispatched to the vicinity of Glass Mountain at 1412 following a report of fire by a hiker. No indications of a fire were observed by the crew. The pilot reported that at 1430 he observed a truck on a ridgeline above the accident site, the truck occupants appeared to be searching the area, but they did not see him. The truck then departed, and the pilot decided to leave the site to search for assistance.
Search and rescue teams were subsequently dispatched, and at 21:30 PDT, after walking 10 miles, the pilot reached a campsite and summoned help.
The helicopter was located in a flat meadow at an elevation of 8,700 feet msl. The area consisted of dried grass, dispersed with knee-high brush and scrub. The helicopter came to rest on its right side, on a heading of 350 degrees magnetic.
The entire cabin area, forward of the firewall was consumed by fire. The tail cone aft of the cabin sustained thermal damage at the airframe mounts, but remained largely intact. The horizontal stabilizer sustained a 90 degrees upward bend, 12 inches from the tip. The tail rotor blades appeared intact and connected to the tail rotor gearbox, the vertical stabilizer was undamaged. The landing gear remained attached to the main helicopter frame and had sustained minimal damage with the exception of the right toe, which had separated at the forward strut. Buckling was noted on the upper fracture surfaces of the failure area consistent with upwards overload of the toe.
Fragmented remains of both main rotor blades were located strewn in all directions about 30 feet around the fuselage. The ground in the immediate area of helicopter exhibited fresh ruts, groves, and excavations. Two ground indentations on a heading of 020/200 degrees, similar in dimension to both landing skids, were noted about 150 feet south of the main wreckage.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: Dynamic rollover of the helicopter during a precautionary landing. Robinson R44 N2153S was reportedly destroyed by fire in the crash, and as a result, the registration was cancelled by the FAA on September 21, 2012.
Additional: As a direct result of this accident, Robinson Helicopters issued a Service Bulletin (R44_SB78) to ensure that all surviving R44 helicopters from December 20, 2010 were retrofitted with fire-retardant, crash-resistant, bladder-type fuel tanks, which can withstand impact damage and not burst open or leak fuel in the event of a crash, quote...
"This bulletin requires R44 helicopters with all-aluminum fuel tanks to be retrofitted with bladder-type tanks. In addition to a factory retrofit program, a field kit is now available. To improve the R44 fuel system’s resistance to a post-accident fuel leak, this retrofit must be performed as soon as possible". (See link #6)
Accident investigation:
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Sources:
NTSB
2. FAA Registration: https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?omni=Home-N-Number&nNumberTxt=N2153S
3. http://helihub.com/2010/09/16/16-sep-10-n2153s-robinson-r44-bishop-us-california/
4. http://helicoptersafety.blogspot.com/2010/09/16-sep-10-n2153s-robinson-r44-bishop-ca.html
5. https://www.aviationlawmonitor.com/2010/12/articles/helicopters/robinson-r44-design-defect-leads-to-postcrash-fires/
6. https://robinsonheli.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/r44_sb78.pdf
7. http://thesheetnews.com/2010/09/23/helicopter-crash-victims-identified/
8. https://monocounty.ca.gov/sheriff/page/update-helicopter-crash
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 10-Nov-2018 21:00 | Dr.John Smith | Added |
| 31-Aug-2020 14:50 | Anon. | Updated [Cn, Nature] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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