N957SH

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On September 20, 2005, about 1600 Pacific daylight time, a Robinson R22 Beta helicopter, N957SH, collided with mountainous terrain 30 miles northeast of Baker, California, while on a cross-country flight. Silver State Helicopters operated the helicopter under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The commercial pilot was fatally injured and the helicopter was destroyed. Visual meteorological conditions generally prevailed along the route of flight, and no flight plan had been filed. The positioning cross-country flight originated at Zamperini Field, Torrance, California, at 1425, with an intended destination of North Las Vegas Airport, Nevada.

Silver State Helicopters was taking delivery of 12 helicopters and sent a number of pilots to the Robinson Helicopter Company, Torrance, on September 20th to take possession of these new ships and fly them to their destinations. The weather at Torrance when they arrived was below VFR (visual flight rules) minimums. The pilots delayed their departure until after lunch when the weather began to clear up. One of the people who had lunch with the accident pilot stated that the accident pilot was anxious to get going, saying he had to be home in Las Vegas by 1600. The accident pilot also was observed receiving a number of calls on his mobile phone in which he was overheard saying he would be home by 1600.

The accident pilot was the fourth helicopter in a loose trail of four helicopters that were separated about 15 minutes apart, all traveling to the east. The helicopters started taking off around 1400, and it is estimated that the accident pilot took off at 1425. The four helicopters were in radio communications with each other on a company frequency. The planned route of flight was Torrance, Compton, Brackett, north of Ontario through the Cajon Pass, Daggett, Baker, and Jean to North Las Vegas, their destination. This route of flight is approximately 270 miles, and would take about 2.6 to 3.0 hours to complete. Because of the distances between the helicopters, the lead helicopter could not communicate directly with the farthest aft trailing helicopter. The helicopter ahead of the accident helicopter crossed over Daggett at 1530, and 5 minutes later heard the accident pilot talking to a California Highway Patrol (CHP) aircraft as the two aircraft approached Daggett to coordinate separation between each other. During the radio communications between the CHP pilot and the accident pilot, the accident pilot said that he was transitioning to the northeast and following the power lines. The CHP pilot and two of the helicopter pilots ahead of the accident pilot stated that they observed precipitation and lightning to the northeast of their route of flight around this time. About 1545, the lead helicopter pilot made a radio call that there was a storm system north of the Silver MOA (military operations area) and recommended staying south of it. The Silver MOA is a 35-mile by 35-mile triangular shaped section of airspace that is centered over Baker, California. The helicopter pilot that was about 15 minutes ahead of the accident pilot tried to contact the accident pilot over the radio at this time but was not successful.

The three helicopters continued to their destinations. The next morning the Silver State Helicopter office in Las Vegas determined that the accident pilot had not arrived at his intended destination and initiated a search. The Civil Air Patrol located the helicopter wreckage at 1100 on September 21, 2005.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

A review of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airman records revealed the pilot held commercial and flight instructor certificates with ratings for rotorcraft-helicopter, instrument-helicopter, flight instructor-helicopter, ground instructor-instrument, and private pilot privileges for airplane single engine land. The most recent rating was his helicopter instrument rating issued on June 10, 2005. The pilot held a second-class medical issued in February 2005, with the limitation that the pilot must wear corrective lenses.

An examination of the pilot's logbook indicated that he had accumulated an estimated total flight time of 876.7 hours, with 840.1 hours of that in helicopters. There were no flights logged for the 30 days prior to the accident flight.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

The helicopter was a Robinson R22 Beta, two-place helicopter, recently manufactured, and had a total engine/airframe flight time of 4.0 hours. It had a fuel capacity of 30 gallons, which corresponds to about 3 hours of flight time. Cruise airspeed for the R22 is about 90 knots.

The helicopter was equipped with a Garmin GNC 250XL GPS (global positioning system) navigation receiver and communications radio. The GNC 250XL has a 'direct to' function, which allows the pilot to enter a waypoint, and the GNC 250XL calculates a direct course to the waypoint (destination) and displays that information to the pilot.

METEOROLGICAL INFORMATION

A National Transportation Safety Board meteorological specialist examined the weather conditions at the time and location of the accident. As a result of the remote location of the accident site, weather reporting facilities were not available in the local vicinity of the accident location. Therefore, weather data was gathered from the National Weather Service weather depiction chart for 2200Z (1500 PDT), September 20, 2005, WSR-88D Doppler Weather Radar, ESX Base Reflectivity images, and GOES-10 visible an infrared images for the time period between 2200Z and 2300Z, September 20, 2005.

The weather depiction chart indicates an area of IFR (instrument flight rules) with ceilings less than 1,000 feet in the vicinity of the accident.

Doppler radar image capture at 2253Z (1553 PDT) displays radar echo intensities between the 20- and 30-decibel range at the accident location. The echo intensity depicted corresponded to a light to moderate precipitation level.

ESX Base Reflectivity image for 2259Z (1559 PDT) displays radar echo intensities between 15 and 25 decibels at the accident location. The echo intensities depicted correspond to a very light precipitation level.

GOES-10 satellite imagery at 2245Z (1545 PDT) displays images of cloud coverage over the accident location.

The entire meteorological factual report is contained in the official docket of this investigation.

SURVIVAL ASPECTS

The Air Force Rescue and Coordination Center (AFRCC) detected an ELT (emergency locator transmitter) signal at 0115Z, September 21, 2005 (1815 PDT), by the SARSAT (Search And Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system). The signal was classified as a 'first alert' with the origin site of the signal in Nevada. A second satellite pass did not acquire the ELT signal. At 0213Z (1913 PDT), the AFRCC received a second 'first alert', and a second satellite pass merged the signals at 0528Z (2228 PDT). At 0842Z (0142 PDT), the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) was assigned the search mission. The local CAP mission commander reported the location of the missing helicopter at 1800Z (1100 PDT).

The accident pilot did call the North Las Vegas Silver State facilities Chief CFI around 1300 on September 20 to say he was delayed. The accident pilot did not call the Chief CFI to inform him of his departure. There was no record of the cross-country flight being tracked by the North Las Vegas Silver State dispatch desk.

There is no record of a FAA flight plan being filed or activated for N957SH on September 20, 2005.

WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION

The wreckage was located on the west face of a 3,900-foot ridge line in the California-Nevada boarder desert region. The terrain consisted of a 50-degree slope of barren volcanic rock with boulder and overhang outcroppings. The wreckage coordinates were 35 degrees 38.952 minutes north and 115 degrees 49.777 minutes west, at an elevation of 3,373 feet mean sea level (msl). The wreckage was aligned along a bearing of 282 degrees magnetic. A dry streambed on the canyon floor below the wreckage ran in a west-northwest direction then turned west-southwest before exiting on to the desert floor. The canyon ran in a northwest-southeast direction and ended in a boxed in area with high terrain and slopes surrounding the only entry or egress route on the southeast end. The wreckage lies along a straight line between Daggett and North Las Vegas Airport.

The helicopter rested collapsed on its left side and the airframe exhibited inward crushing of the right underside of the fuselage. All major helicopter components were present with the airframe except for the skid tubes and frame, which were downslope directly below the main wreckage about 20 yards, and one tail rotor blade, which was located laterally behind the wreckage about 35 yards. One main rotor blade was attached to the rotor hub and was curled up and behind the tail boom. The other rotor blade had separated from the hub and was found next to the wreckage. The hub fracture surface was matte gray and homogeneous in color and texture. Green position light glass and fragments of the right skid tube were located in a recessed area of the rock face 3 or 4 feet directly below the main wreckage. Fiberglass shards and gray paint flakes were imbedded in to a rock boulder next to the main wreckage in line with a deformed area of the engine cooling fan shroud. The left side of the cockpit was collapsed leaving no occupiable space in the area of the left seat. The right seat area was deformed and the instrument panel was intact. The collective lever was observed to be close to full upward deflection and the left and right cyclic grips were detached revealing exposed electrical wiring.

The engine exhaust manifold exhibited ductile deformation and the carburetor bowl was detached from the carburetor throat. The bowl was partially covered with a gasket; the gasket exhibited a black burned area and discolorations consistent with a hig...