- Date
- May 18, 1983, 10:56 local (15:56 UTC)
- Place
- Venice, LA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N36062Aerospatiale AS-350D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830518019909A
- Case key
- 20724
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 crashed into a swamp with low rotor RPM after a failure of the accessory gearbox power output gear. The pilot radioed an emergency call saying he was experiencing severe vibrations and was landing. A few seconds later, he radioed that he was crashing. Rescue acft found the helicopter on its right side partially in water. There was evidence that thefailed gear box resulted in low rotor speed which was not recovered due to lack of altitude at the time of failure. An investigation revealed that the power turbine output (pto) gear, pn 4-081-044-15, failed from low stress, high cycle fatigue. The fatigue originated at a point were rehardening burns caused by grinding were present. This grinding was accomplished during manufacturing of the gear after it had been carburized. The procedure should have been accomplished prior to carburization when the material surface was much softer & less susceptible to grinding burns.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N36062
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale AS-350D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1237
- Airframe hours
- 2,987
- Engine
- Lycoming LTS-101-600A2, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Ferry · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Petroleum Helicopters, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- West Delta, GM
- Destination
- 7R1 · Venice, LA
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
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
- 48
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,340 total · 1,469 in this make and model · 4,649 as pilot in command · 130 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- NEW
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.