- Date
- August 5, 1986, 12:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Indiantown, FL
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N9086TContinental Copters Tomcat MK5A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860805037749A
- Case key
- 31687
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 aerial application helicopter crashed just after lift-off after sustaining a power failure, the plt stated that he thought the reason for the failure could have been fuel starvation since he had observed some foreign matter in the fuel when he drained the sump during the preflt inspection of the acft. A post accident exam revealed no evidence of any fuel odor or fuel spill in or around the crash site. Only a small amount of fuel was found in the gascolator. There was no fuel present in the tank although the fuel tank was on its side and the cap was missing from the tank. No evidence of any water or foreign matter was detected in the fuel system. The flt was operating contra to FAR part 137, in that the operator did not have a FAA certificate for agricultural operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9086T
- Reported as
- Continental Copters Tomcat MK5A (TOMCAT MK5)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- CCI-78-1
- Airframe hours
- 1,953
- Engine
- Lycoming VO-435, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 91
- Operator
- Glades Ground Spraying,Inc.
- Registered owner
- Tri-State Helicopter, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · March 25, 1986 · 53 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
- 31
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 4,927 total · 4,195 as pilot in command · 76 in the last 90 days · 76 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 30,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PBI, 38 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 N9086T · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.