ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 228977
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| Date: | Wednesday 11 September 2019 |
| Time: | 12:00 LT |
| Type: |  Sikorsky S-58ET |
| Owner/operator: | Heli-Flite Inc |
| Registration: | N1168U |
| MSN: | 58-1070 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1958 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 19929 hours |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney PT6T-6 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Azusa, CA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Shafter-Kern County Airport, CA (MIT/KMIT) |
| Corona Municipal Airport, CA (KAJO) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot was conducting a ferry flight. During cruise flight while at an altitude of about 1,000 ft above ground level and at an airspeed of about 110 knots, one of the helicopter's tail rotor blades separated, which resulted in a partial separation of the remaining tail rotor assembly and a forced autorotation. The remaining tail rotor assembly subsequently impacted the vertical stabilizer. The mechanic who performed the daily inspection of the helicopter before the accident flight did not observe any evidence of a crack on the tail rotor blades.
The separated section of the tail rotor blade was not recovered. Postaccident fractographic examination of the tail rotor blade piece containing the root end revealed that most of the blade had cracked due to fatigue. No nicks, gouges, damage, or contamination were observed. Further examination revealed that the blade met the design specifications of the engineer drawings.
Maintenance records revealed that the rotor blade was most recently repaired in April 2007, but details of the repair work were not available.
Probable Cause: The in-flight separation of a section of the tail rotor blade due to a fatigue crack, which resulted in the pilot's forced autorotation into a field.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB WPR19LA255
https://flightaware.com/photos/view/9316243-8ea701ff34c42867a4cc5abae8b9c9b811c4ea44 (photo)
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 14 April 1989 | N1168U | Aris Helicopters, Ltd | 0 | Santa Ana, CA | |
sub |
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 12-Sep-2019 19:15 | Captain Adam | Added |
| 12-Sep-2019 22:02 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-Sep-2019 22:02 | RobertMB | Updated [Damage] |
| 13-Sep-2019 06:29 | Captain Adam | Updated [Damage, Narrative] |
| 13-Sep-2019 11:42 | RobertMB | Updated [Damage, Narrative] |
| 07-Oct-2020 02:45 | Captain Adam | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Damage, Narrative] |
| 01-Jul-2022 17:27 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, Accident report] |
| 17-Nov-2023 18:15 | harro | Updated [Other fatalities, Source, Narrative] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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