Robinson R44 II N165RV

Summary

On 13 May 2015 at about 22:30 local time, a Robinson R44 II registered N165RV, operated by Joshua Shiver, was involved in an accident near Columbia, Illinois, United States. One person was 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

13 May 2015 at 22:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Columbia, Illinois, United States

Coordinates

38.4128, -90.2233

Aircraft

Robinson R44 II

Registration

N165RV

Category

Helicopter

Year built

2003

Engines

1

Operator

Joshua Shiver

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Columbia

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN15LA231

Nobody was injured.

A total loss of engine power while maneuvering at low altitude for reasons that could not be determined during postaccident examination.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The helicopter experienced a loss of engine power during an agricultural application flight at low altitude. The commercial pilot lowered the collective and increased the throttle but was unable to reestablish engine power, so he made a run-on landing to a field. During landing, the right skid sunk into the mud/wheat, which caused a "slight hop," and the main rotor struck the tailboom. Postaccident examination of the oil filter revealed no signs of contamination. No mechanical anomalies were noted with the fuel system and the fuel from the carburetor was light blue, typical of 100 low-lead aviation fuel. An unidentified sticky substance, likely agricultural spray, coated the lower half of the throttle flap and the bottom half of the fuel injector body. However, the observed buildup of the substance was not sufficient to restrict the throttle flap from actuating. The refueling station used for the spraying operations consisted of a large storage tank attached to a trailer, a filtering unit, and a supply hose, which was connected to the refueling tank. The supply hose had been purchased from a farm supply store, and its exterior was stamped with "farm fuel transfer hose w/static wire." According to the manufacturer's packaging label, the supply hose was not designed to dispense aviation fuel. Samples of fuel were collected from inside the refueling tank and the supply hose; the sample from the hose was pale green, indicating that some type of contamination was present, and the sample from the tank was light blue. Laboratory analysis of the fuel samples from the refueling tank and supply hose showed that they were substantially identical; however both had a high "unwashed gum" content from different sources; the unwashed gum content in the hose sample was consistent with an additive used in plastics and rubber hoses; whereas, the unwashed gum content in the fuel tank was consistent with a stabilizing additive common in fuels. However, it could not be determined whether the unwashed gum content from the hose would have affected engine operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.