Accident Overview
On the day of the accident, an air tour helicopter departed Juneau, Alaska, with a pilot and six passengers for a 50-minute flight over mountainous glaciers. About ten minutes after the pilot made a normal radio transmission, the helicopter was located by a pilot from another company helicopter also conducting a tour. The accident helicopter had struck a nearly level, snow-covered glacier. The leading edge of the impact crater was angled between 30 and 45 degrees below the horizon, and the airspeed indicator gauge showed a needle slap mark at 130 knots.
Weather and Visibility Conditions
Pilots of the two helicopters near the accident site reported that "flat light" made the featureless, snow-covered terrain difficult to discern from the indefinite, overcast ceiling. Photographs taken within one hour of the accident showed that the mountain pass the pilot was attempting to fly through was difficult to distinguish from the clouds, the glacier surface, and the surrounding snow-covered terrain.
Pilot Experience and Training
The pilot had accrued 7.9 hours in AS-350 helicopters and a total of 37.5 hours in turbine helicopters, all with the accident company. This was the second day the pilot operated the AS-350 by himself. The pilot did not hold any instrument certificates, nor was he required to by the FAA. The pilot's previous helicopter piloting experience was in Arizona and California. The pilot stated on his company resume that he had accrued 891 hours of helicopter flight experience at the time of his employment, but the NTSB and FAA estimated the pilot actually had 612 helicopter flight hours when hired.
Company Training and FAA Oversight
The pilot received no emergency instrument training from the company, nor did the company require him to demonstrate the ability to control the helicopter solely by reference to the installed flight instruments. The helicopter was required to, and did have, a gyroscopic pitch and bank indicator installed. FAA Order 8400.10 requires Principal Operations Inspectors (POIs) and approved company check airmen to have pilots demonstrate their ability to control a helicopter solely by reference to flight instruments during 14 CFR 135.293 competency checks for VFR-only helicopter operations. This requirement is not specified in 14 CFR Part 135. The FAA approved the company's training manual without this requirement being incorporated. The FAA did not ensure that the company check airman was aware of the checking requirements listed in FAA Order 8400.10.
The FAA's training minimums for new hire pilots is 16 hours of Indoctrination Training and 16 hours of aircraft ground training. The FAA's national norm for these training programs are 24 hours each. POIs can approve the minimum hours based on the type and sophistication of the training methods. The approved training for the accident company was the minimum.
Background Checks and Mechanical Inspection
The company had not received background checks for the pilot before the accident occurred, and was allowed by the Pilot Records Improvement Act to use a pilot for 90 days prior to receipt of background information. The pilot had expressed to a previous employer and a previous instructor that he was uncomfortable with company pressure to fly tours in bad weather. A postaccident inspection discovered no evidence of any preaccident mechanical anomalies.
Probable Cause
The source does not state a probable cause.