- Date
- July 11, 1983, 16:23 local (Jul 12, 1983, 00:23 UTC)
- Place
- Dutch Harbor, AK
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 3 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N141EHAerospatiale AS-350D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19830711036079A
- Case key
- 4038
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
Aprx 2 min after takeoff, the plt & passengers heard a loud muffled boom from behind the firewall, then the rotor RPM began to decay. The plt entered an autorotation & selected a landing area. He noted that the eng was not driving the rotor sys, so he shut it down to reduce the possibility of fire while landing. During an emergency landing on sloping, mountainous terrain, the helicopter rolled over, and subsequently, it came to rest in a ravine at the bottom of the slope. A teardown of the eng revealed that the #3 bearing, pn 4-301-051-02, had failed & that the oil jet for the bearing was clogged. Reportedly, maintenance personnel were aware that a differential pressure check, to detect clogging to the #2 & #3 packaged oil jets, was 7 to 8 PSI. This was 2 to 3 PSI too high & indicated clogging of the oil jets. (This procedure was outlined in Lycoming svc bulletin LTS101A-17-0014). However, the discrepancy was not entered in the eng maintenance logs.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N141EH
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale AS-350D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1460
- Airframe hours
- 813
- Engine
- Lycoming LTS-101-600A2, 615 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Era Helicopters, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · July 11, 1983
- Destination
- DUT · Dutch Harbor, 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
- 31
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 6,807 total · 1,006 in this make and model · 6,703 as pilot in command · 180 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.