ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 150907
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| Date: | Tuesday 27 November 2012 |
| Time: | 15:15 |
| Type: |  Hughes 369D |
| Owner/operator: | P J HELICOPTERS INC |
| Registration: | N163PJ |
| MSN: | 1068D |
| Year of manufacture: | 1982 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 6645 hours |
| Engine model: | Rolls Royce 250 C20B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | On top of Cherry Hill, outside of Sheridan, OR -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | External load operation |
| Departure airport: | Sheridan, OR |
| Sheridan, OR | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
During a Christmas tree harvest, the pilot was repositioning trees from the harvest field onto a truck bed using an 18-foot tag line. He had completed at least five loads before the accident load. During the accident load, the pilot had just released the load onto the truck when he thought the helicopter was encountering a settling with power condition. The pilot maneuvered the helicopter to land on the road in front of the truck. The pilot thought he was clear of the truck; however, the main rotor blades hit the truck just above the cab. The helicopter impacted the ground and the main rotor blades struck and separated the tailboom from the fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter or engine that would have precluded normal operations.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to prevent the helicopter from entering a vortex ring state (settling with power) condition during an external load operation, which resulted in the helicopter’s main rotor blades impacting the truck.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Nov-2012 06:08 | gerard57 | Added |
| 28-Nov-2012 08:56 | Geno | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:28 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 28-Nov-2017 13:55 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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