ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 200600
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| Date: | Monday 1 June 2015 |
| Time: | 19:48 |
| Type: |  Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV |
| Owner/operator: | Airwest Helicopters |
| Registration: | N73AW |
| MSN: | 52115 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1995 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 4091 hours |
| Engine model: | Allison/Rolls Royce 250-C30P |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Dewey, AZ -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Grand Canyon, AZ (40G) |
| Glendale, AZ (GEU) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The commercial pilot was conducting a cross-country ferry flight. He reported that the engine chip detector caution light briefly illuminated while the helicopter was in cruise flight about 750 ft above ground level. The pilot chose to make a precautionary landing and initiated a descent. During the descent, the detector light illuminated again, followed shortly thereafter by a “loud bang” and the engine losing power. The pilot initiated an autorotation emergency landing. During the landing sequence, the main rotor blades struck the tailboom.
Examination of the engine revealed that the No. 2 bearing separator had fractured through both rails at the forward and aft sides of the bearing. The ball bearings were retained in the separator; however, half of them exhibited damage consistent with smearing and material transfer between the raceway and balls, which resulted in the failure of the No. 2 bearing and the subsequent engine power loss.
Probable Cause: A total loss of engine power due to the failure of the No. 2 bearing, which resulted from a fractured separator.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 6 April 2016 | N73AW | Airwest Helicopters LLC. | 0 | Supai, Arizona | |
sub |
| Loss of control | ||||||
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 26-Oct-2017 19:51 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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