- Date
- August 19, 1987, 11:35 local (16:35 UTC)
- Place
- Ship Shoal 214c
- Injuries
- 2 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N359EAerospatiale AS-355F-1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 16, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870819046869A
- Case key
- 22270
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
Acft experienced a tail rotor drive shaft failure during t/o from an offshore platform. Acft spun left and completed 6 to 7 revolutions prior to water contact as the single plt could not reach the throttles to reduce pwr to idle. Acft landed hard and the rt float deployed on touchdown while the left float did not and the acft rolled left. Occupants swam to rig from which t/o had been initiated. Investigation revealed that the forward shaft (no. 1 segment) had failed in the area of the aft splines near the main gearbox oil cooling fan connection. Failure was attributed to fatigue due to fretting caused by abnormal vibration levels induced by the oil cooling fan blades. Analysis indicated that fan blades would become contaminated with deposits of grease, oil, and soot causing vibration to increase from .6 ips to 4.0 ips. No previous requirement to clean the fan blades existed and the vibration would not have been detectable by the plt or pax.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N359E
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale AS-355F-1
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 5138
- Airframe hours
- 3,102
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20F, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Executive/Corporate · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Transcontinental Gas Pipeline
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · July 21, 1987 · 59 hours before
- Destination
- Ship Shoal 246, GM
- Airport
- Ship Shoal 214c
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
- 30
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 5,514 total · 2,810 in this make and model · 4,815 as pilot in command · 130 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 325° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.