Bell 412 N3893S

Summary

On 9 June 1999 at about 20:35 local time, a Bell 412 registered N3893S was involved in an accident near Eugene Is. 313. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 June 1999 at 20:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Eugene Is. 313

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Bell 412

Registration

N3893S

Category

Helicopter

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Positioning

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Garden Bank 172 → Morgan City

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW99LA162

Nobody was injured.

The separation of a section of the tail rotor blade, and subsequent separation of the tail rotor system, as a result of fatigue cracking due to corrosion in the tail rotor blade spar.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

One of the tail rotor blades separated from the helicopter during cruise flight as a result of a fatigue crack. The pilots reported hearing a 'loud bang,' and the helicopter 'immediately and violently tucked down and left then rolled inverted and [was] spinning to the right.' The flying pilot righted the helicopter, and the non-flying pilot inflated the emergency floats prior to impacting the ocean. The outboard section of one of the tail rotor blades (which one could not be determined) was found and examined. A fatigue crack initiated in the spar in an 'area of round-bottomed corrosion pits 0.001 inch deep.' The two tail rotor blades installed on the helicopter had accumulated 4,644 and 4,913 hours, respectively. The tail rotor blades are life limited at 5,000 hours.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.