N301MA

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On August 17, 2008, about 1455 Pacific daylight time, a Robinson R-22 Beta II helicopter, N301MA, impacted the terrain about two miles northwest of Olalla, Washington. The private pilot, who was the sole occupant of the helicopter, was killed in the accident. The helicopter, which was owned and operated by the pilot, was destroyed by the impact. The 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal pleasure flight, which departed Bremerton National Airport, Bremerton, Washington, about 20 minutes prior to the accident, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed.

According to friends of the pilot, he recently created a landing pad area at his personal residence, and on the day of the accident he said he was going to fly from Bremerton Airport to his residence so he could land the helicopter on that pad for the first time. He and another individual drove to the airport together, and this second individual ultimately drove back to the residence after the pilot departed the airport in the helicopter.

According to the individual who drove to the airport with him, the pilot mentioned that it had been about a year since he had flown the helicopter, so in addition to adding fuel to it, he was going to spend some extra time looking it over and making sure it was ready to fly. Reportedly, after arriving at his hangar, the pilot spent between 60 and 90 minutes pre-flighting the helicopter prior to starting the engine. During that time, he took two five-gallon fuel containers to the fuel pumps, filled them with 100 low-lead aviation fuel, and added the contents of one of those containers to the fuel already in the helicopter.

While the pilot was preparing the helicopter for flight, the individual who drove to the airport with him asked if they could go along during the flight, but the pilot reportedly responded that since it had been so long since he had flown the helicopter, he wanted to take it up by himself. He also stated that he was going to do some practice maneuvers prior to departing the airport, and that he would not land back at his residence until the person who accompanied him to the airport had returned there in the car.

After starting the helicopter, the pilot lifted off and performed a hover-taxi to an open grassy area within the airport boundary. Once there, he spent about 10 minutes performing what appeared to be practice maneuvers, and then flew back by the person who drove to the airport with him. As he flew by, he waved, which was the pre-agreed upon signal that everything was alright, that he was going to head toward his residence, and that the individual on the ground should go ahead and drive the car back to the residence. Soon thereafter, the helicopter was seen departing the airport to the east, with no sign of anything out of the ordinary taking place.

Although the exact timing could not be determined, the pilot is believed to have arrived in the area near his residence about seven to ten minutes after departing the airport. According to a friend of the pilot, who lived directly across the street from the pilot's residence, once the pilot arrived in the area, he flew by the residence at least four different times. The witness said that each time the pilot flew by he would wave, and then depart the area for a few minutes prior to arriving for anther pass. According to this individual, during each pass the helicopter was about 200 feet above ground level (agl), and it was obvious that the pilot was not trying to land. The witness further stated that the helicopter's engine sounded like it was running smoothly during each of the fly-bys, and it was his opinion that the pilot continued flying around the area because he was waiting for the individual with the car to arrive back at the residence before he landed. During the last fly-by the helicopter was heading from north to south, and shortly after that pass, the helicopter descended to an impact with the terrain in the backyard of another residence located about one-half mile south of the pilot’s house.

Witnesses in the area of the impact had varying descriptions of what the helicopter sounded like just prior to and during its descent to impact. A couple of witnesses said that it sounded like a group of motorcycles were coming down the road together. One said that it sounded like it was making a loud grinding or "gear ticking" sound. One said that it sounded like the engine was running smooth, but at a very high rpm. Another said that they heard the engine sputtering or misfiring, and then turned to see the helicopter "fishtailing" as it started to descend. All of the witnesses said that from the time they first noticed the sound of the helicopter's engine, until they heard the sound of the impact, was no more than 10 seconds.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The 68 year old pilot held a private pilot certificate, with airplane single engine land(ASEL), airplane single engine sea (ASES), and rotorcraft-helicopter ratings. His last airmen's medical examination, a third class, was completed on July 3, 2008. On his medical application, the pilot indicated that he had a total of 2,201 hours total flying time, with 29 hours in the last six months. The pilot kept a separate logbook for his helicopter flying time, and the last entry in the log was on August 12, 2006, at which time he had 248.6 hours total helicopter time.

METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION

At 1455, the surface aviation weather surface observation (METAR) at Bremerton National Airport, which is located about 10 miles west-northwest of the accident site, indicated winds from 240 degrees at 3 knots, 10 statute miles visibility, clear skies, a temperature of 28 degrees Celsius, a dew point of 16 Celsius, and an altimeter setting of 29.76 inches of mercury.

The 1453 METAR issued at Tacoma Narrows Airport, which is located about 10 statute miles south of the accident site, indicated calm winds, a visibility of 10 statute miles, clear skies, a temperature of 27 degrees Celsius, a dew point of 16 degrees Celsius, and an altimeter setting of 29.74 inches of mercury.

The 1453 METAR for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which is located about 10 statute miles northeast of the accident site, indicated winds from 280 degrees at 06 knots, 10 statute miles visibility, scattered clouds at 11,000 feet, broken clouds at 19,000 feet, a temperature of 27 degrees Celsius, a dew point of 17 degrees Celsius, and an altimeter setting of 29.75 inches of mercury.

WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION

The helicopter impacted the terrain in the southwest corner of the backyard of a residence located on the west side of the 12600 block of Banner Road Southeast in Olalla. During the last part of its descent, its main rotor blades came in contact with the limbs of a tree at a height of about 20 feet above the ground. Immediately thereafter the airframe of the helicopter impacted a wood fence. The helicopter came to rest on its right side, partially inverted, about 10 feet west of the fence, in a dense growth of berry vines.

The forward part of the helicopter's belly had been compressed up and aft. The heaviest impact damage was on the left side of the belly. The skid cross tubes were bowed up at their ends, with the aft tube being disconnected from the left skid, and the forward tube being disconnected from the right skid. The toe of the left skid had separated at the forward strut. The SCAT tubing associated with the carburetor heat system had been crushed upward to a nearly flat condition, and the induction air filter box had been forced upward against the body of the carburetor with sufficient force as to result in the inflow end of the venture puncturing the bottom of the filter box. The carburetor heat cable housing was securely attached, but pinched tightly in the airframe structure by the upward crushing force. The carburetor heat slide was in the half-on position. The mixture control arm had been pushed almost directly upward, resulting in the bending of the mixture shaft. The mixture control arm had come to rest near the full lean position, with the distance between the cable clamp and the mixture cable retaining hardware being 0.7 of an inch, and the distance between the cable clamp and the end of the cable housing being 0.2 of an inch. The cable wire itself was found resting alongside (instead of through) the control arm attach bolt. It was lightly wedged between the bolt's lower washer and the end of the mixture control arm through which the bolt passes.

The first individuals to get to the scene reported that there was a significant amount of fuel pouring from the helicopter, and an impact hole was found on the inboard wall of the auxiliary fuel tank. Both fuel tank screens and the gascolator screen were found to be uncontaminated, and there was no evidence of water in the fuel samples. A very thin layer of orange discoloration settled from the fuel sample taken from the gascolator, but all other samples, including that from the carburetor, contained no separating discoloration. There was no evidence of pre-impact contamination of the air filter.

The lower left side of the cooling air induction fan lower scroll half contained an area of upward impact crushing, and the lower half of the scroll had four forward-to-aft fractures spaced about evenly across its circumference. The tail boom had separated around the first riveted seam aft of the tail boom attach fitting, and there was no indication of main rotor blade impact of the separated boom section. About a six inch section of the bottom of the boom, just forward of the second riveted seam, was crushed directly upward through about one-half of the boom structure, and the top half of the aforementioned riveted seam had pulled apart. The tail rotor drive shaft failed just forward of this second seam, and there was no evidence of torsional twisting at the failure location. Aft of the second seam, the t...