Garlick UH-1B N46969

Summary

On 8 May 2015 at about 00:50 local time, a Garlick UH-1B registered N46969, operated by R & R Conner Aviation LLC, was involved in an accident near Kettle Falls, Washington, United States. One person was on board and 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

8 May 2015 at 00:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Kettle Falls, Washington, United States

Coordinates

48.8758, -118.1322

Aircraft

Garlick UH-1B

Registration

N46969

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

R & R Conner Aviation LLC

Operating rule

Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load

Purpose of flight

External Load

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kettle Falls → Kettle Falls

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR15LA159

1 person had minor injuries.

A total loss of engine power due to foreign object (towel) ingestion. Contributing to the accident was maintenance personnel’s inadequate postmaintenance inspection of the engine.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot was conducting an external load logging flight in the helicopter. A review of maintenance records revealed that, on the day of the accident, the engine had been replaced with an overhauled engine. Following the maintenance, the pilot completed one logging cycle without incident. The pilot reported that, about 50 minutes into the second cycle, she heard a loud screeching/grinding noise followed by a muffled "bang." The low rotor rpm horn sounded, and she initiated an autorotation. The helicopter touched down, impacted trees, rolled down sloped terrain, and then came to rest. A postaccident examination of the engine's particle separator assembly revealed that it was intact and installed properly on the air inlet section; however, the inlet guide vanes exhibited signatures consistent with foreign object damage, and a material consistent with a towel was found within the vanes. Given the damage signatures and the found material, it is likely that maintenance personnel did not adequately inspect the engine area after installing the overhauled engine and left a towel in its compressor section, which the engine subsequently ingested and resulted in a total loss of power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.