- Date
- January 30, 1985, 07:12 local (15:12 UTC)
- Place
- Galt, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N67081Aerospatiale SA316B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850130001409A
- Case key
- 24464
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
While in cruise the plt lost tail rotor control and elected to execute an emergency landing in an open field. The tail rotor gearbox was found 45 ft from the main wreckage. The tail rotor guard was found 60 ft from the main wreckage. It did not exhibit any ground impact damage, but did display 3 tail rotor blade marks. The right ear tail rotor gearbox attachment bolt sheared in an overload manner. The left ear tail rotor gearbox attachment bolt was missing and the ear showed compression damage at the bottom aft edge of its inside plate. There was no other evidence of a preimpactfailure or malfunction.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N67081
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale SA316B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 2184
- Airframe hours
- 2,054
- Engine
- Turbomeca ARTOUSTE IIIB, 858 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Rocky Mountain Helicopters Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · January 29, 1985 · 0 hours before
- Departed
- Sacramento, CA
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
- 39
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 482 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 330° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 36 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SAC, 16 nm away
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 N67081 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.