20 Jun 2010: ROBINSON HELICOPTER R44 — BERING PACIFIC RANCHES LTD

20 Jun 2010: ROBINSON HELICOPTER R44 (N333DV) — BERING PACIFIC RANCHES LTD

1 fatality • Unalaska, AK, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's inappropriate low altitude maneuvering, which resulted in a collision with terrain.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On June 19, 2010, about 1700 Alaska daylight time, a Robinson R44 helicopter, N333DV, sustained substantial damage when it collided with terrain about 62 miles southwest of Unalaska, Alaska. The helicopter was being operated by the pilot as a visual flight rules (VFR)other work use flight, in conjunction with a cattle ranch, under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The solo commercial pilot died in the accident. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and company flight following procedures were in effect.

During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge on June 19, an official for the cattle ranch said another pilot at the ranch told her the helicopter pilot had just dropped off two employees for a cattle count, and upon departure, the helicopter had "caught a skid," and impacted terrain. The employees attempted to render aid to the accident pilot, but she was told the pilot died. The employees reported they did not think there were any problems with the helicopter prior to the accident.

In a written statement provided to the NTSB IIC by one of the ranch employees who witnessed the accident, the witness reported that he and another employee were in the helicopter with the pilot, surveying the ranch property, when they spotted a bull that had become entangled in plastic wrapping material. He said he and the other employee got out of the helicopter, and the pilot attempted to herd the bull toward them so they could cut the plastic off. The witness said the bull would not cooperate, and the pilot tried to land on the trailing plastic so they could tackle the bull. The witness also reported that the pilot tried to knock the bull down with the helicopter. He said eventually the pilot got the helicopter's right landing gear skid under the plastic and tried to pick the bull up, but the plastic broke. He said the pilot hooked the skid under the plastic again, but this time the plastic did not break, and as the helicopter lifted the bull off the ground the helicopter moved forward and to the right, and impacted the ground.

Due to the remote location, the helicopter was not examined by the NTSB.

A postmortem examination of the pilot was conducted under the authority of the Alaska State Medical Examiner, 4500 South Boniface Parkway, Anchorage, Alaska, on June 25, 2010. The examination revealed the cause of death for the pilot was attributed to multiple blunt force injuries.

The FAA's Civil Aeromedical Institute (CAMI) conducted a toxicological examination on August 12, 2010, which detected amounts of Ethanol, Methanol, and N-Propanol. The Ethanol in this case was from sources other than consumption. Ibuprofen was detected in the urine.

Contributing factors

  • cause Capability exceeded
  • cause Directional control — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 160/17kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.