- Date
- September 9, 2001, 10:45 local (18:45 UTC)
- Place
- Skagway, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N60809Eurocopter AS 350 BA
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 25, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20010909039309A
- Case key
- 54918
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's misjudged flare while landing. Factors associated with the accident were whiteout conditions, and snow-covered terrain.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The certificated commercial pilot was attempting to land at a remote tourist camp located at the 4,000 feet level of remote glacier. The day before the accident, the area had received about 6 inches of very light, powder snow. As the pilot hovered the helicopter toward the landing area, he became disoriented in whiteout conditions, and lost all visual reference due to blowing snow. As the helicopter drifted to the right, the right skid struck the snow, and the helicopter rolled onto its right side. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, tail boom, and drive train components.
Factual narrative
On September 9, 2001, about 1045 Alaska daylight time, a high-skid equipped Eurocopter AS-350 BA helicopter, N60809, sustained substantial damage during landing on the surface of the Denver Glacier, about 3 miles southeast of Skagway, Alaska. The helicopter was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) business flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The helicopter was owned and operated by TEMSCO Helicopters, Inc., Ketchikan, Alaska. The solo commercial pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and company flight following procedures were in effect. The flight originated at the Skagway Airport, about 1030.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on September 10, the Director of Operations for TEMSCO Helicopters reported the accident helicopter was being utilized to demobilize a remote tourist camp located at the 4,000 feet level of the Denver Glacier. He added that the day before the accident, the area had received about 6 inches of very light, powder snow. He said that as the accident pilot hovered the helicopter toward the landing area, the pilot became disoriented in whiteout conditions, and lost all visual reference due to blowing snow. As the helicopter drifted to the right, the right skid struck the snow, and the helicopter rolled onto its right side.
The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, tail boom, and drive train components.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N60809
- Reported as
- Eurocopter AS 350 BA
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 2696
- Airframe hours
- 3,949.2
- Engine
- Turbomeca Aeriel, 656 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- TEMSCO Helicopters, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 23, 2001 · 19.8 hours before
- Departed
- SGY · Skagway, AK
- Destination
- SGY · Skagway, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- April 27, 2001
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 1,903 total · 357 in this make and model · 1,424 as pilot in command · 311 in the last 90 days · 107 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 20 knots, gusting 25
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft broken
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.