ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 223705
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| Date: | Thursday 4 April 2019 |
| Time: | 14:16 |
| Type: |  Robinson R44 Raven II |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N4046J |
| MSN: | 14282 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2019 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 81 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming IO-540-AE1A5 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Tampa, FL -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Tampa, FL |
| Sarasota-Bradenton Airport, FL (SRQ/KSRQ) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
About 5 days before the accident, the helicopter's engine lost power and the owner performed an off-airport landing to a field. The helicopter was not damaged during the landing, and several days later, maintenance personnel examined the helicopter while still in the field. The mechanics examined the helicopter's fuel system, replaced a fuel servo, and after a successful test run of the engine, the commercial pilot departed with one of the mechanics on board for the accident flight in order to reposition the helicopter from the field to a maintenance facility. About 15 minutes into the flight, the engine lost power, and the pilot performed an autorotation to a roadway. After touchdown, the helicopter slid on the roadway, the main rotor contacted a telephone pole, and a 2.5-ft piece of a main rotor blade separated and impacted a truck driving on the roadway, fatally injuring the passenger and seriously injuring the driver of the truck.
Postaccident examination of the helicopter's engine revealed that the air induction inlet duct was partially collapsed. The inner rubberized fabric liner of the duct had partially delaminated and separated from the outer rubberized fabric, obstructing the interior volume of the duct. The wire stiffener between the two layers of fabric was displaced in two locations near the center of the duct length at a 90° bend. Further examination of the duct found a liquid residue in some areas of the duct that was consistent with castor oil, which was normally used in the assembly and curing of the duct during its manufacture. Given this information, it is likely that during the duct's manufacture, castor oil was inadvertently introduced between the duct's two fabric layers, interfering with the bond between the them. It is also likely that the duct then partially collapsed, which restricted airflow to the helicopter's engine and resulted in the losses of engine power that occurred both before and during the accident flight.
Probable Cause: Contamination of and an inadequate bond between the two layers of fabric comprising the helicopter engine's air induction inlet duct, which resulted a partial collapse of the duct, obstruction of the airflow into the engine, and a total loss of engine power.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
https://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N4046J
Location
Images:
Photo: NTSB
Media:
VIDEO: Watch a helicopter crash land on a busy Tampa road; man dies on groundhttps://t.co/FRiqkIbxO7 pic.twitter.com/D51wfp6cWA
— Tampa Bay Times (@TB_Times) 4 avril 2019
VIDEO: A tragic crash in the Tampa area this afternoon. A helicopter crashed near an intersection, and one of its rotor blades broke off and hit a pickup truck, killing the passenger inside: https://t.co/sWhqUnULES pic.twitter.com/JuE4tO4Ude
— Spectrum News 13 (@MyNews13) 4 avril 2019
A person riding in a pickup truck was killed after a helicopter made a crash landing onto a busy road in Tampa.https://t.co/oy6lSWo8My pic.twitter.com/9gimBLJZnO
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) April 4, 2019
LATEST: A helicopter made a crash-landing along a busy road in Palm River this afternoon, killing a person on the ground in the process: https://t.co/dIav0s3ZBo pic.twitter.com/2b0ukbm91M
— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@FOX13News) April 4, 2019
MORE: Helicopter crashes onto busy Tampa highway, rotor blade hits truck, killing passenger. https://t.co/0j4ZmZG5xX pic.twitter.com/WtGpGUbRZP
— KTNV Action News (@KTNV) April 5, 2019
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Apr-2019 20:10 | gerard57 | Added |
| 04-Apr-2019 20:24 | Captain Adam | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 04-Apr-2019 20:30 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Total occupants, Source, Narrative] |
| 05-Apr-2019 02:01 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Embed code] |
| 05-Apr-2019 09:22 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Location, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 15-Aug-2020 15:59 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
| 15-Aug-2020 16:18 | harro | Updated [Nature, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Photo, Accident report, ] |
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