ANC98TA162

The helicopter was engaged in a partial power toe in landing to disembark two passengers. The passenger on the left side walked uphill, and was struck by the main rotor blades, sustaining serious injuries. The helicopter sustained minor damage to the rotor system, and the pilot relocated to a safe landing site. According to the other passenger and the pilot, the passengers had been briefed to not walk uphill when exiting the helicopter. The pilot stated that his attention was diverted between the passengers on each side of the helicopter, and maintaining the helicopter's position.

On September 27, 1998, at 0825 Alaska daylight time, a Hughes 369D helicopter, N1091P, sustained minor damage to two main rotor blades when they struck a disembarking passenger during a toe-in landing to a remote beach site. The passenger who was struck by the rotating blades sustained serious injuries. The commercial pilot and the one other passenger were not injured. The government flight was being operated on an end-use contract by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management to conduct land surveys. The helicopter was owned by Temsco Helicopters, Inc., of Ketchikan, Alaska. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 135, and had departed the Research Motor Vessel (M/V) Nancy H at 0755, to transport the two passengers to a remote beach site. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and a flight plan was filed with the M/V Nancy H.

The pilot told the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) during a telephone interview on September 27, that while performing a partial power toe-in landing, he signaled the passengers that they could exit the helicopter. The pilot said his attention was diverted between the passengers on each side of the helicopter, and maintaining the helicopter's position. The first passenger exited off the front of the left skid, and walked uphill into the turning rotor blades, sustaining serious injuries to his back and head. The helicopter immediately began to vibrate violently, and the pilot relocated the helicopter to a landing site about 800 feet away. He stated that the helicopter's vibration after the impact with the passenger activated the emergency locator transmitter (ELT).

Interviews by the NTSB IIC with the pilot and uninjured passenger revealed that by 1100, no rescuers had arrived. The pilot removed the ELT from the helicopter and moved it away from the steep cliff face next to where he had landed. At 1130, the US Coast Guard began a search resulting from satellite receipt of an ELT signal. At 1146, the M/V Nancy H reported the helicopter overdue to the Coast Guard. At 1257, the helicopter was located, and the occupants were rescued at 1329.

Both the pilot and the uninjured passenger told the NTSB IIC that the passengers had been briefed to not walk uphill from under the turning rotors. Both men also told the IIC that there was no level ground to land the helicopter, and the only way to disembark the passengers was by performing a toe-in landing, keeping partial power on the rotor system, and allowing the passengers to climb off the skids.

The helicopter was contracted for, and both passengers were employed by, the surveying company. The surveying company was retained by the Port Graham Native Corporation, Port Graham, Alaska, to perform cadastral land surveys, with funds provided by the United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, under the Indian Self Determination Act (Public Law P.L. 93-638).