Accident Summary
A helicopter experienced a power plant failure while attempting to upright an animal cage by pulling it over with a long line attached to the aircraft. The helicopter had approximately 115 pounds of fuel in its tank. The failure occurred when the helicopter's nose raised during the towing operation. The subsequent hard landing caused the left rear landing gear strut to collapse, and the main rotor blades impacted posts around the perimeter of a corral over which the helicopter was hovering.
Sequence of Events
The pilot was conducting a task to right an animal cage using a long line connected to the helicopter. During the tow, the helicopter's nose pitched up, and the engine failed. With approximately 115 pounds of fuel remaining, the helicopter descended and struck the ground hard. The impact collapsed the left rear landing gear strut. The main rotor blades then struck posts that surrounded the corral. The long line and animal cage were also involved, but no further details are specified.
Findings
Investigators duplicated the helicopter's pitch attitude and fuel load at the time of the accident. This replication revealed that the fuel pick-up point becomes un-ported when the fuel quantity is at or below 115 pounds. This condition would have resulted in fuel starvation, leading to the engine failure.