- Date
- April 20, 1982, 16:10 local (23:10 UTC)
- Place
- Big Piney, WY
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N9007NAerospatiale SA315B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 20, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19820420010509A
- Case key
- 69946
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
The acft was engaged in seismic activity supplying explosives by long line. The eng failed at about 400-500 ft AGL. The load was released & an open field was selected. At about 150 ft AGL the plt was unable to maintain rotor RPM & the acft impacted the ground in an upright position. The eng teardown indicated a fatigue failure of the #4 blade on the axial compressor assembly. Fatigue crack developomentoccurred across approximately 2/3 of the platform area before final separation occurred. The blade separation caused severe internal damage within the compressor assembly including extreme axial wheel damage, destructionof the axial compressor diffuser & bearing failure.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9007N
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale SA315B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 2542
- Airframe hours
- 2,065
- Engine
- Turbomeca ARTOUSTE 111B, 858 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 133
- Operator
- High Life Helicopters
- Registered owner
- High Life Helicopters
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
- 37
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 7,850 total · 2,725 in this make and model · 7,475 as pilot in command · 128 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Temperature
- 95 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.