- Date
- December 5, 1988, 14:06 local (20:06 UTC)
- Place
- South Marsh 113
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2785BMBB BO-105
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 16, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 22821
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
Failure and separation of one of the tail rotor blades for undetermined reasons. Thr resulting imbalance and vibration caused the separation of the 90 degree gearbox and a portion of the vertical pylon which necessitated the emergency autorotation to the water.
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
As the helicopter was climbing thru about 500 ft, the plt heard a loud noise, felt a severe vibration & saw debris falling in front of the acft. He began an autorotation & deployed the emergency floats before landing on water in the gulf of Mexico. The helicopter remained afloat & the occupants deployed & entered a raft from which they were picked up about 1 hr later. An investigation revealed that one of the tail rotor blades had separated & struck a main rotor blade. The resulting imbalance caused the gearbox to separate & fall in the water. The 90 deg gearbox, tail rotor hub and tail rotor blades were not recovered from the gulf of Mexico.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2785B
- Reported as
- MBB BO-105
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 636
- Airframe hours
- 1,751
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Air Logistics
- Registered owner
- Mdfc Equipment Leasing
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · October 28, 1988 · 49 hours before
- Departed
- SMI7 · South Marsh 7, GM
- Destination
- PTN · Patterson, 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
- 46
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 8,826 total · 406 in this make and model · 8,425 as pilot in command · 62 in the last 90 days · 27 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 20° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
Other investigations on N2785B · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.