ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 289051
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| Date: | Wednesday 27 July 2011 |
| Time: | 14:40 LT |
| Type: |  Eurocopter AS 350 B3 |
| Owner/operator: | Air Methods |
| Registration: | N808LF |
| MSN: | 4983 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2010 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 282 hours |
| Engine model: | Turbomeca Arriel 2B1 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Troutdale, Oregon -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Standing |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Aurora State Airport, OR (KUAO) |
| The Dalles Airport, OR (DLS/KDLS) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot reported that, about 12 minutes into a repositioning flight following a maintenance task performed by a company mechanic, he felt something that he described as similar to a bird strike. The pilot subsequently elected to make a precautionary landing in order to assess the situation. During an examination of the helicopter after the uneventful landing, the pilot discovered that a portion of the tail rotor drive shaft cover was missing and that one main rotor blade and two tail rotor blades had been damaged. Postaccident discussions with the company's director of maintenance determined that the maintenance staff (who had recently performed a maintenance inspection) and the pilot likely looked at the tail rotor drive shaft cover prior to the accident flight and presumed that it was secure or had been secured by someone else; however, it was not secure and came off during flight. Following the accident, the company implemented a primary mechanic position into its Field Mechanic Procedures in order to mitigate a similar occurrence.
Probable Cause: The in-flight separation of the tail rotor drive shaft cover as a result of maintenance personnel not ensuring that it was secured after a maintenance inspection; also causal was the pilot's inadequate preflight inspection of the helicopter.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB WPR11LA352
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 26 June 2014 | N808LF | Air Methods Corp (AMC) | 0 | Draughon-Miller Central Texas Regional Airport, Temple, TX | |
min |
| 17 April 2022 | N808LF | Air Methods Corp (AMC) | 0 | Phoenix Deer Valley Airport (DVT/KDVT), AZ | |
sub |
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-Oct-2022 09:12 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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