Bell 206B N118EC

Summary

On 18 August 2012 at about 23:06 local time, a Bell 206B registered N118EC, operated by San Juan Police Department, was involved in an accident near San Juan, United States. 3 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

18 August 2012 at 23:06

Classification

Accident

Location

San Juan, United States

Coordinates

18.4269, -66.0764

Aircraft

Bell 206B

Registration

N118EC

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

San Juan Police Department

Operating rule

Public Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

San Juan → San Juan

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA12TA515

Nobody was injured.

The crew’s inadequate preflight inspection and failure to monitor the fuel state during flight, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The helicopter was serviced with 25 gallons of fuel about 3 hours before the accident flight, and the pilot thought he had a total of 60 gallons of fuel on board. About 35 minutes into the flight, the crew smelled a fuel-like odor and initiated a return to the airport. Five minutes later, the fuel pump warning light illuminated, and the engine lost power. The pilot initiated an autorotation into a parking lot, and the helicopter landed hard, partially severing the tail boom. Postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed that the fuel tank was empty and undamaged. There were no signs of fuel leakage observed, and the fuel filler cap was secure. All fuel system components and lines were in good working order. The fuel gauge read “zero” when energized on the ground. Fuel was later added to the tank to check for leaks; none were observed. Finally, the engine was removed from the airframe and installed on a similar helicopter. The engine was test run on the ground and in a hover for a total of 40 minutes with no anomalies noted. The fuel burn during the test run was normal for the helicopter. Neither pilot reported observing the fuel tank gauges during the accident flight. It is likely that the crew began the flight with much less fuel than they thought they had and did not monitor the fuel state during flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.