ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 153768
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| Date: | Monday 3 January 2005 |
| Time: | 13:46 |
| Type: |  Eurocopter EC 135T1 |
| Owner/operator: | Native American Air Ambulance |
| Registration: | N135NW |
| MSN: | 0010 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1996 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 4167 hours |
| Engine model: | Turbomeca Arris 2B1 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Casa Grande, AZ -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Unknown |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Ivanovo Airport (IWA/UUBI) |
| Casa Grande Municipal Airport, AZ (CGZ) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
Following the in-flight separation of a main rotor control link, the pilots lost control and the helicopter hit the ground hard and rolled over. The pilots reported that as they turned base in the traffic pattern for landing at the airport, the helicopter pitched up violently and rolled to the right, followed by a hard roll to the left. Both pilots got on the controls and tried to regain control of the helicopter. The pilots lowered the collective and started down for a landing. During the descent, the pitching and rolling continued intermittently with the roll attitude reaching beyond 60 degrees. As the helicopter neared the ground, the pilots flared and the helicopter hit the ground in a tail low attitude and rolled over. A post accident examination of the helicopter, and examination of maintenance records by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, occurred on site and after recovery. During the course of the examination it was determined that maintenance personnel had removed cyclic control links from the cyclic control levers to check the ball joints for excess free play during an inspection. The links are attached to the cyclic levers with bolts and castle nuts with cotter pins through the castle nuts as a safety locking device. The right lateral cyclic control link was found broken. The nut on the upper bolt was 1/4-inch away from the side of the attachment point. There was no evidence of the cotter pins having been added to the castle nuts after the link inspection/reinstallation.
Probable Cause: the separation of a main rotor control link due to improper maintenance installation.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB: https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/60796/pdf
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-Mar-2013 08:01 | TB | Added |
| 07-May-2016 10:43 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:28 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 06-Dec-2017 06:52 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 03-Sep-2023 09:08 | gipsymagpie | Updated [[Operator, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]] |
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