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| Date: | Wednesday 21 September 2005 |
| Time: | 10:07 LT |
| Type: |  Bell 407 |
| Owner/operator: | Los Angeles City Water And Power |
| Registration: | N702WP |
| MSN: | 53543 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2002 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 1498 hours |
| Engine model: | Rolls-Royce 250-C47B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Inyokern, California -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Unknown |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | Los Angeles-Van Nuys Airport, CA (VNY/KVNY) |
| Inyokern, CA (KIKY) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The helicopter's tail rotor struck a rock outcropping during a confined landing at a remote mountain site. The pilot was moving two surveyors up the side of the southern slope of a mountain canyon. He dropped the surveyors off at a small saddle on a ridge, and departed to locate the next site upslope. He found a rocky outcropping that he thought would be a good landing site, and made one approach, but did not like the location due to uneven terrain. He then hovered over to another site a few yards away and proceeded to land. During the landing the tail rotor made contact with a small rock outcropping. Feeling the contact he proceeded to execute a successful autorotative landing from a hover.
Probable Cause: The pilot failed to maintain tail rotor clearance from obstacles during landing.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB LAX05TA306
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 09-Oct-2022 15:09 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
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