- Date
- August 21, 1989, 13:40 local (20:40 UTC)
- Place
- Carson City, NV
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 3 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3596GAerospatiale AS350D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 9, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890821030769A
- Case key
- 17603
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
A failure of the gas generator turbine. Factors related to the accident were: the tailwind and the residential area in which the pilot was forced to land.
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
While in cruise flight over a residential area, the engine failed and the pilot performed an autorotation to a street. Due to landing area constraints, the autorotation was performed with a 30 knot tail wind component, which caused a hard landing and loss of control after touchdown. Five persons were aboard and one sustained serious injuries due to being ejected from the helicopter, when his seatbelt failed. The power loss was due to failure of the gp turbine.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3596G
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale AS350D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1110
- Engine
- Lycoming LTS-101-600-A, 615 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Aris Helicopters
- Departed
- RNO · Reno, NV
- Destination
- Bodie, CA
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 38
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 4,665 total · 1,800 in this make and model · 4,580 as pilot in command · 274 in the last 90 days · 117 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- RNO, 30 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.