Accident Overview
On May 21, 2008, at 1004 eastern daylight time, a Eurocopter AS350 B2, registration N417AE, sustained substantial damage during engine run-up before takeoff at Caffery Heliport in Hiram, Georgia. The helicopter was operated by Omniflight under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a positioning flight to Austell, Georgia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a company flight plan was filed. The certificated commercial pilot and two passengers were not injured. The helicopter was registered to GE Business Financial Services Incorporated.
Pilot Actions
The pilot reported that after completing a preflight inspection, he started the helicopter. As he advanced the throttle from idle to flight rpm, the helicopter experienced violent shaking. He immediately performed an emergency shutdown and inspected the aircraft. During the inspection, he discovered that the tail rotor boom was buckled and the main rotor starflex arm was broken.
Maintenance History
According to the director of maintenance (DOM), the recent maintenance history and inspection status of the helicopter were reviewed. The review indicated that the starflex was not listed on the Aircraft Status Report for the accident aircraft. The DOM stated that the record keeping process was prone to error because interpretation of complex component life limit historical records was done by "lesser qualified personnel." An audit of the starflex's life limit status revealed that its life limit of 2,200 hours had been exceeded by 586.4 operating hours. At the time of the accident, the total time on the starflex arm was 2,786 hours. When the accident aircraft was purchased, the starflex time in service was 2,588 hours, and the operator's conformity inspection at that time failed to discover the excess hours. Following the accident, the operator audited the time in service of all starflexes in the remainder of their fleet; no other starflexes were found to have exceeded their life limit.