ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 180719
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| Date: | Thursday 15 July 2004 |
| Time: | 16:00 |
| Type: |  MD Helicopters MD530F (369FF) |
| Owner/operator: | Pacific Aviation International Inc |
| Registration: | N530RL |
| MSN: | 0602FF |
| Year of manufacture: | 1985 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Lihue Airport, Kauai, HI -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Fire fighting |
| Departure airport: | Hanapepe-Port Allen Airport, HI (PAK/PHPA) |
| Kauai Island/Lihue Airport, HI (LIH/PHLI) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The main rotor contacted a tree during firefighting operations. The pilot completed an emergency landing, and the helicopter rolled onto its side. The pilot was maneuvering the helicopter slowly toward a fire, almost in a hovering condition. The pilot's attention was focused on the bucket attached to the helicopter, and the clearance between the bucket and the trees. Just after he initiated the water release, the main rotor blades impacted a tree. The pilot felt that the accident was a result of his focused attention on the bucket and his failure to see the limited clearance between the tree and the main rotor blades. The pilot noted no mechanical malfunctions with the helicopter, nor were any found during a examination by an FAA inspector. The pilot's total bambi bucket experience was 10 hours, and he dumped 60 buckets over a 2-hour period the day of the accident.
Probable Cause: The pilot misjudging the clearance between the tree and the main rotor blades. Contributing factors to the accident were the high workload of the pilot and his lack of experience with bambi bucket operations.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB: https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20040724X01058&key=1
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 31 January 2011 | N530RL | Pima Co Sheriff's Department | 1 | Ironwood National Forest, AZ | |
sub |
| Loss of control | ||||||
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Oct-2015 22:22 | Noro | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:30 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 07-Dec-2017 18:12 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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