ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 169449
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| Date: | Wednesday 14 December 2005 |
| Time: | 14:57 |
| Type: |  Aerospatiale SA-319B Alouette III |
| Owner/operator: | Bureau of Land Management |
| Registration: | N3194K |
| MSN: | 2025 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1973 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 5258 hours |
| Engine model: | Turbomeca Astazou XIV-B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Escalante, UT -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Standing |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | Page, AZ (PGA) |
| Escalante, UT | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The helicopter was manufactured in France for the French Army Air Force. Thirty years later, it was imported to California and given a Certificate of Airworthiness in the normal category by the Anchorage, Alaska, FAA FSDO. The helicopter was flying under contract for the Bureau of Land Management (Public Use) in southern Utah in support of an eradication of feral cattle program. The pilot said that he touched down on a sloping rock outcrop when the helicopter began to oscillate. The pilot pulled up on the collective and the aircraft "suddenly self-destructed." Five of the occupants exited the helicopter under their own power, however, one had been struck by a rotor blade and remained buckled in his seat unconscious. The ground resonance event separated the transmission/rotor system, the engine from the fuselage, and one main rotor blade impacted the cabin. The pilot said that he had experienced at least two incipient ground resonance events with this helicopter during the previous 18 months. During a post-accident examination, numerous maintenance discrepancies were identified, including: improper tire inflations, improper main landing gear hydraulic shock strut pressures, and differential functioning of the main rotor blade drag dampers. The manufacturer's representative said that all of these items have narrow operational tolerances if ground resonance events are to be avoided. Additionally, the landing surface was a "bowl shaped" rock formation with the right main landing wheel up sloped approximately 5 degrees and the nose wheel 3-5 inches nose low.
Probable Cause: The pilot's inadequate remedial action when ground resonance was encountered during landing. Contributing factors were the rough/uneven terrain and company inadequate maintenance.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB: https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20051221X02000&key=1
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 02-Sep-2014 10:16 | Aerossurance | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:28 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 06-Dec-2017 11:36 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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