- Date
- February 25, 2012, 14:15 local (22:15 UTC)
- Place
- Poway, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N118MBEurocopter AS 350 B3
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 3, 2012
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration FSDO
- FAA report
- 20120225004869A
- Case key
- 82971
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
The pilot's inadequate compensation for wind conditions during landing, which resulted in a hard landing.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot stated that he was approaching a landing zone on a flat pinnacle with a tailwind. The helicopter was within 50 feet of the landing area in a slow, stable, shallow approach when it encountered an updraft. When the helicopter flew out of the updraft, it abruptly descended to the ground. The helicopter landed hard, and the impact buckled the tail boom and sheared off the left landing gear skid.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that he was approaching a landing zone on a flat pinnacle with a tailwind. The helicopter was in a slow, stable, shallow approach when it encountered an updraft within 50 feet of the landing area. When the helicopter flew out of the updraft, it abruptly descended to the ground. The helicopter contacted the ground in a flat orientation, and the impact buckled the tail boom and sheared the left landing gear skid off.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N118MB
- Reported as
- Eurocopter AS 350 B3
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 3535
- Airframe hours
- 5,473
- Engine
- Turbomeca ARRIEL 2B1, 848 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Mountain Air Helicopters Inc
- Registered owner
- Mountain Air Helicopters Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · February 5, 2012
- Departed
- N/A · Poway, CA
- Destination
- N/A · Poway, CA
- Flight plan
- Unknown
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
- 63
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 16, 2011
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 16,701 total · 2,181 in this make and model · 16,626 as pilot in command · 200 in the last 90 days · 115 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Observed at
- NKS, 8 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 27, 2012, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.3 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.