- Date
- March 13, 1984, 08:13 local (15:13 UTC)
- Place
- Story, WY
- Injuries
- 3 serious, 1 minor, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8655Aerospatiale SA-316B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840313005699A
- Case key
- 16202
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
On the day prior to the accident, the plt noted that the fuel gage indicated 30 to 35 gal remaining. He added 40 gal & made a flt of about 15 min. On the next day, he noted that the gage indicated about 40 gal of fuel remaining. The reported fuel consumption was aprx 1 gal/min. He took off without refueling; however, about 18 min later, the low fuel warning light came on, & shortly thereafter, the eng flamed out from fuel exhaustion. The plt made an autorotation, but the helicopter was damaged during the landing on snow covered, mountainous terrain. An exam of the float type fuel quantity gage revealed that it was corroded. Due to the corrosion, the float would not freely move up & down in its housing. The low fuel warning light was electrically connected to the fuel quantity transmitter & should have illuminated when the fuel level dropped to 60 litres (15.85 U.S. Gal). The crash site was located on wooded terrain at an elevation of 6480 ft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8655
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale SA-316B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1728
- Airframe hours
- 2,966
- Engine
- Turbomeca ARTOUSTE IIIB, 562 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Hawkins & Powers Aviation Inc
- Registered owner
- Ernest & Peggy Mignot
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- AAIP · February 28, 1984 · 3 hours before
- Departed
- SHR · Sheridan, WY
- Destination
- Story, WY
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
- 36
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 8,837 total · 8,476 as pilot in command · 64 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 80° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SHR, 20 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.