Bell 206B N345TV

Summary

On 20 October 2007 at about 20:18 local time, a Bell 206B registered N345TV, operated by USA Airmobile Inc., was involved in an accident near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, 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

20 October 2007 at 20:18

Classification

Accident

Location

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Bell 206B

Registration

N345TV

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

USA Airmobile Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Other Work Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Prudhoe Bay → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC08LA004

1 person was seriously injured.

Fuel starvation due to the blockage of fuel inlet screens, and improper service procedures by ground personnel.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot was cleaning electrical power line insulators using a cleaning apparatus mounted on the helicopter. While cleaning, the pilot said the helicopter was hovering about 60 feet above the ground when the engine lost power. He turned away from the power lines, and the helicopter descended rapidly, impacting the ground, and sustaining substantial damage to the fuselage and rotor system. The helicopter had a 30-foot articulated spray boom mounted on its right side, a 50-gallon water tank inside, and a pressure pump on the left side. The equipment was operated by an onboard boom operator. An examination of the helicopter disclosed that both electric fuel boost pump intakes were clogged with a fibrous material. The electric fuel boost pumps serve as conduits for the engine-driven fuel pump, and if they are clogged, no fuel will reach the engine. Similar fibrous material was found in the airframe fuel filter. At a test facility, the engine was started and run without problems. During a re-examination of the airframe, the fuel tank was cut open, and a triangular-shaped 4" piece of an absorbent pad was found. The contract fueler had routinely been shoving the fuel nozzle through a hole in the plastic packaging of a bundle of absorbent pads, into the edges of the pads, to keep fuel from dripping on the tundra. The fueling process was repeated every 7-8 minutes. Samples of the material taken from the fuel pumps, the piece found in the fuel tank, and an exemplar pad provided by the fuel contractor, were sent to a laboratory for testing. The tests revealed that all the samples were essentially identical. The contamination of the fuel pumps most likely occurred when the fuel nozzle tip cut/captured portions of the absorbent pads when it was placed in the pad bundles, and the cut portions were then pumped into the fuel tanks.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.