ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 179106
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| Date: | Saturday 26 June 2004 |
| Time: | 04:30 |
| Type: |  Eurocopter AS 350B3 Ecureuil |
| Owner/operator: | Native American Air Ambulance Inc |
| Registration: | N5226R |
| MSN: | 3144 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1998 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 3253 hours |
| Engine model: | Turbomeca Arriel 2B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Cibicue, AX -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Show Low Region, AZ (SOW) |
| Cibecue, AZ | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The helicopter landed hard damaging the tail boom while landing at a improvised landing zone to pickup a medical patient. Several days prior, the pilot had landed at the same landing zone (a baseball field) and recalled that he encountered a large cloud of blowing dirt and was anticipating the same thing. About 3 feet above ground level, as the helicopter slowed to about 10 knots, a dust cloud began to formulate. The pilot said that the helicopter continued to descend and made a "firm" touchdown on the right skid, followed almost immediately by the left. A medical crewmember reported that on final approach he felt as though the helicopter was descending faster than normal. As the helicopter came into ground effect, a significant amount of dust was stirred up, diminishing visibility. The medical crewmember said the skids touched down with "significant" force. The operator reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions of failures with the helicopter.
Probable Cause: the pilot's failure to maintain a proper decent rate during the landing approach and misjudged landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing. A factor in the accident was the brownout conditions created by the dust cloud that interfered with the pilot's perception of proximity to the ground.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB: https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20040917X01456&key=1
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 29-Aug-2015 16:55 | Noro | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:30 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 07-Dec-2017 18:04 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Cn, Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-Jan-2020 17:25 | Aerossurance | Updated [Aircraft type, Location] |
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