Agusta A119 N119AH

Summary

On 23 October 2009 at about 03:20 local time, a Agusta A119 registered N119AH, operated by TriState CareFlight LLC, was involved in an accident near Blythe, California, United States. 5 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

23 October 2009 at 03:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Blythe, California, United States

Coordinates

33.6219, -114.8667

Aircraft

Agusta A119

Registration

N119AH

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

TriState CareFlight LLC

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Blythe → Palm Springs

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

WPR10FA029

Nobody was injured.

The loss of engine power during cruise flight for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the emergency medical service (EMS) flight, while enroute at 4,500 feet mean sea level, the pilot heard a change in the sound of the main rotor system, followed by a vibration in the cyclic. He applied aft cyclic to slow the helicopter and noticed the rotor rpm starting to decay. After he lowered the collective in an attempt to regain rotor rpm everything appeared to stabilize. The pilot then increased the collective to see if he could re-establish cruise power, but the increase in collective resulted in the low rotor aural warning activating. When the pilot lowered the collective, the warning went out, and when he tried to maintain rotor rpm by using the throttle in the manual mode there was no change, which resulted in the warning system activating again. The pilot then lowered the collective, returned the throttle to the normal position and began a descent, touching down in soft dirt and sliding forward before coming to rest upright. The helicopter was substantially damaged as a result of the hard landing, which separated the tail section. During the postaccident examination, the engine was tested in the gas generator and the power turbine modes, as well as the electronic engine control (EEC) and mechanical engine control (MEC) modes. The engine was observed to run normally to all inputs in gas generator, EEC and MEC control modes, with manual override also observed to function normally. During a subsequent engine test a reduction in gas generator speed of 8 percent occurred, with the engine fully recovering power in about 5 seconds. Additional testing could not replicate the power reduction as previously observed, and the reason for the reported loss of engine power could not be definitively determined.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.