ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 156173
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| Date: | Thursday 30 May 2013 |
| Time: | 23:07 |
| Type: |  Bell 407 |
| Owner/operator: | Howard Co Police |
| Registration: | N407HC |
| MSN: | 53745 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2007 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 1930 hours |
| Engine model: | Rolls-Royce 250 C47B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Wilde Lake HS, Columbia, MD -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | Fort Meade/Odenton-Tipton AAF, MD (FME/KFME) |
| Fort Meade/Odenton-Tipton AAF, MD (FME/KFME) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
During a routine police patrol flight, while about 600 feet above the ground, the helicopter suddenly yawed to the left and the red “ENGINE OUT” warning light illuminated. The engine lost all power and the pilot performed an autorotation landing on a nearby football field. While avoiding obstacles, the helicopter landed hard, resulting in substantial damage to the airframe. A postaccident examination of the engine revealed no damage or obvious reason for the loss of power.
The engine’s electronic control unit (ECU) was removed and was shipped to the manufacturer’s facility for evaluation and testing. The examination of the ECU revealed that the engine was operating normally until an unexpected activation of the full authority digital electronic control overspeed protection system fuel reduction solenoid, which is internal to the ECU, resulting in an uncommanded in-flight engine shutdown. A subsequent ECU functional review confirmed that a short circuit failure of a tantalum capacitor was the source of the ECU malfunction. After the accident, Bell Helicopter issued an Alert Service Bulletin and Rolls-Royce issued an accompanying Commercial Engine Bulletin that included the installation of an overspeed adapter to reduce the likelihood of a false overspeed activation.
Probable Cause: The short circuit failure of a tantalum capacitor, internal to the engine’s electronic control unit, resulting in an uncommanded shutdown of the engine in flight.
Sources:
NTSB
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 31-May-2013 23:47 | Geno | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:28 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 28-Nov-2017 14:39 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 30-May-2023 09:06 | Ron Averes | Updated [[Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]] |
| 31-May-2023 05:23 | Ron Averes | Updated [[[Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]]] |
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