- Date
- July 25, 1990, 14:10 local (21:10 UTC)
- Place
- Quincy, CA
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2292WBell 206B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 30, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900725028459A
- Case key
- 26648
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
An unidentified contaminate lodged in the fuel governor.
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 pilot was conducting a helicopter aerial survey and was cruising at 400 ft AGL in mountainous terrain when the engine, without any warning, sustained a flame out. The pilot immediately executed an autorotation and was able to find a suitable landing area. On final approach he observed a steel cable traversing the landing site directly in the helicopter's flight path. He was able to fly over the cable but in doing so the main rotor RPM decayed and the helicopter sustained a hard landing. The post accident investigation disclosed that the engine would not operate at governor power level angles of less than 50 deg. After bench testing the power turbine governor it operated normally when placed on the engine. Test engineers reported that this conditions, in all probability, indicates a contaminate lodged in the power turbine governor. It was disclodged during the bench test.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2292W
- Reported as
- Bell 206B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 505
- Airframe hours
- 8,234
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 317 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Rogers Helicopters, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 3, 1990 · 70 hours before
- Departed
- Storrie, 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
- 47
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 12,000 total · 12,000 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.