- Date
- November 2, 1983, 08:30 local (16:30 UTC)
- Place
- Castroville, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N9092TContinental Copters Tomcat Mark 5A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19831102056179A
- Case key
- 24077
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 helicopter landed hard during a forced landing after a power loss. The accident occurred on the last swath run. When the engine stopped the acft was 6 ft AGL. The pilot reported that the engine stopped from fuel starvation. On recommendation for prevention the pilot stated 'allowing more fuel reserve and not relying on fuel gauges'.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9092T
- Reported as
- Continental Copters Tomcat Mark 5A (TOMCAT MAR)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- CCI-78-4
- Airframe hours
- 2,381
- Engine
- Lycoming VO-435-A1E, 425 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Registered owner
- Gomes Farm Air Service
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 1983 · 61 hours before
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
- 35
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 7,225 total · 1,200 in this make and model · 6,985 as pilot in command · 250 in the last 90 days · 75 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 145° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 45 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N9092T · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.