Eurocopter AS 350 B2 N5205F

Summary

On 2 June 2005 at about 01:35 local time, a Eurocopter AS 350 B2 registered N5205F, operated by United States Customs and Border Protection, was involved in an accident near Bisbee, Arizona, United States. 2 people were on board and one was seriously injured, one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

2 June 2005 at 01:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Bisbee, Arizona, United States

Coordinates

31.4394, -109.8353

Aircraft

Eurocopter AS 350 B2

Registration

N5205F

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

United States Customs and Border Protection

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Public Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tucson → Tucson

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX05GA192

1 person was seriously injured.

the pilot's failure to maintain an adequate forward airspeed, which resulted in an in-flight loss of control due to a loss of tail rotor effectiveness, while operating near the out of ground effect hover capability of the helicopter. Contributing factors to the accident was the high density altitude and the pilot's lack of experience in the operating environment.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While hovering over a mountainous area on an aerial observation mission, the helicopter entered a rapid yaw rotation to the left then descended to ground impact. While hovering over items of interest on the ground, the pilot began a turn to the left at 200 feet above ground level. The helicopter began to turn more rapidly than normal and the pilot applied right pedal. The right pedal application did not counteract the turn rate and the helicopter continued spinning to the left. The pilot then reduced power and pitched the helicopter's nose forward while maintaining right pedal. The helicopter continued to rotate as it descended to impact with the ground. At the time of the accident, the pilot was not aware from which direction the wind was blowing. The pilot's regular flying assignment consisted of high-altitude surveillance flights over Florida and he was on a short duration pilot augmentation assignment to the Tucson operations base and had limited mountain flying experience. A pilot flying in the area immediately following the accident reported winds greater than 20 knots and blowing from the west. The helicopter was operating at a gross weight of 4,020 pounds. The maximum allowable gross weight of the helicopter is 4,961 pounds. The density altitude was 7,850 feet mean sea level (msl) and the out of ground effect hover capability of the helicopter was about 8,000 feet msl. Post accident examination of the helicopter did not reveal any preimpact airframe or engine malfunctions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.