- Date
- November 6, 2015, 06:00 local (11:00 UTC)
- Place
- Monongahela, PA
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N639MEEurocopter Deutschland EC 135
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Status
- Completed · report January 15, 2016
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA-Allegheny FSDO
- FAA report
- 20151106022539A
- Case key
- 92401
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
The inadequate securing of the wheeled fire extinguisher's cover which resulted in it being blown off of the fire extinguisher and ingested into the helicopter's fenestron during takeoff, resulting in a loss of directional control.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
After liftoff during a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) flight with a patient on board, the pilot of the HEMS helicopter brought it in to a 1 to 2 foot hover and was preparing to make a right pedal turn into the wind, when a cover from a wheeled fire extinguisher, was blown airborne by the main rotor wash and ingested into the tail rotor (fenestron) of the helicopter. The helicopter lost tail rotor authority and began to spin clockwise. The pilot lowered the collective and the helicopter rotated approximately 150 degrees, then impacted the ground and continued to rotate another 20 to 30 degrees, for a total of 170 to180 degree turn, and came to rest. Examination of the helicopter by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed damage to the landing gear skid tubes, fenestron composite housing, and the forward cross tube gimbal which had pushed up into a composite non-structural area of the fuselage. It was discovered, that the wheeled fire extinguisher that the cover had blown off of, had been inspected for serviceability just four days prior to the accident.
Factual narrative
After liftoff during a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) flight with a patient on board, the pilot of the HEMS helicopter brought it in to a 1 to 2 foot hover and was preparing to make a right pedal turn into the wind, when a cover from a wheeled fire extinguisher, was blown airborne by the main rotor wash and ingested into the tail rotor (fenestron) of the helicopter. The helicopter lost tail rotor authority and began to spin clockwise. The pilot lowered the collective and the helicopter rotated approximately 150 degrees, then impacted the ground and continued to rotate another 20 to 30 degrees, for a total of 170 to180 degree turn, and came to rest. Examination of the helicopter by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed damage to the landing gear skid tubes, fenestron composite housing, and the forward cross tube gimbal which had pushed up into a composite non-structural area of the fuselage. It was discovered, that the wheeled fire extinguisher that the cover had blown off of, had been inspected for serviceability just four days prior to the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N639ME
- Reported as
- Eurocopter Deutschland EC 135 (T2)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 0563
- Built
- 2007
- Airframe hours
- 5,110.2
- Engines
- Turbomeca ARRIUS 2B2, 634 horsepower, turbo shaftTurbomeca Arrius 2B2, 634 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Center For Emergency Medicine Of Western
- Registered owner
- Center For Emergency Medicine Of Western
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · November 4, 2015
- Departed
- 5PA5 · Monongahela, PA
- Destination
- 78PA · Newtown Square, PA
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- 5PA5 · Monongahela Valley Hospital
- Equipment
- Satellite tracking device, Auto-pilot, Electronic multifunction display, Onboard weather
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 55
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 28, 2015
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 4,413 total · 1,198 in this make and model · 2,663 as pilot in command · 82 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- 180° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 12,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- KAGC, 10 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 8, 2016, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.5 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.