Downed by a jacket... WTF

[Scott Rose]

During the OH-6 Cayuse Overhaul I stumbled across this bit of weirdness.... Read the NTSB report at the bottom of the entry. My question is this, with the cause of the crash, what repercussions would the FAA have for the pilot if any?

Serial #: 67-16209
Construction #: -
Civil Registration:
N6636H
Model(s):
OH-6A Cayuse
Name: None
Status: Wrecked
Last info: 2003
History:
U.S. Border Patrol Air Operations, El Paso, TX, 1996-2003.
- Registered as N6636H.
- Crashed and destroyed in non-fatal accident, Pan Tak, AZ, May 12, 2003.
NTSB Identification: LAX03LA150
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Monday, May 12, 2003 in PAN TAK, AZ
Aircraft: Hughes OH 6A, registration: N6636H
Injuries: 1 Serious, 1 Minor.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors.
Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On May 12, 2003, about 1206 mountain standard time, a Hughes OH 6A, N6636H, collided with terrain near Pan Tak, Arizona. The helicopter was owned and operated by U.S. Border Patrol as a public-use aircraft under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The commercial pilot sustained minor injuries. The second commercial pilot/observer sustained serious injuries; the helicopter was destroyed. The cross-country flight departed Ajo, Arizona, about 1130, en route to Tucson, Arizona. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The primary wreckage was at 32 degrees 02 minutes north latitude and 111 degrees 31 minutes west longitude.

The pilot reported that while flying about 300 feet above ground level (agl) he heard a loud bang followed by the helicopter becoming uncontrollable. The helicopter came to rest on mostly level desert terrain. Most of the major components to the helicopter were located in the area of the main wreckage. The tail rotor gearbox and tail rotor blade assembly were missing from its attachment point of the tail boom. A search of the area for the tail rotor assembly or other related pieces of the helicopter was negative.

During the search for the missing components, searchers found a U.S. Border Patrol flight jacket. The jacket was located approximately 0.7 miles west of the accident site. Examination of the flight jacket revealed that the jacket had been shredded. The jacket also had red and white colored paint transfers. The tail rotor blades on the accident helicopter reportedly were painted with red and white colored paint.

[bdk]

Unless there was some evidence the pilot was at fault for the door unlatching, I don't think there would be a cause for action.

I don't know how the pilot could have predicted the sequence of events with the jacket.

If there is any action that could be taken against the pilot it would probably be for flying outside weight and balance limitations, though that had nothing to do with the accident.

https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/ReportGeneratorFile.ashx?EventID=20030515X00670&AKey=1&RType=HTML&IType=TA

Analysis

While in cruise flight, the back door on the helicopter opened, and a flight jacket that had been unsecured in the back seat departed the helicopter and became entangled in the tail rotor assembly. The tail rotor assembly subsequently separated from the tail boom, and the pilot was unable to maintain control of the helicopter. He entered an autorotation, but due to the diminished control capability, the helicopter struck the ground hard and rolled onto its side.

Probable Cause and Findings

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The pilot in command's failure to adequately secure loose cargo (a jacket), which resulted in the jacket colliding with the tail rotor during cruise flight, and the subsequent separation of the tail rotor and loss of flight control. A factor associated with the accident is the rear door unlatching in-flight.

[Scott Rose]

Thank BDK,

I just found it one of the weirder causes of a Cayuse loss.

[Cubs2jets]

Since the FAA does NOT regulate public service aircraft, they would not "come after" the pilot. Now, the next question might be what repercussions by U.S. Border Patrol stemmed from the loss of this aircraft?

C2j

[JohnB]

Years ago, I heard about the loss of a Robinson...it seems the pilot was very religious and carried his Bible everywhere. One day it flew out the open door and struck the tail rotor leading to a crash.

It sounds like an apocryphal hangar story...

Still, if I flew a Robinson a lot, I'd probably carry a Bible, and a four leaf clover too... My instructor has 2000+ hours in tgem, I prefer the nice, forgiving Bell

[Scott Rose]

Years ago, I heard about the loss of a Robinson...it seems the pilot was very religious and carried his Bible everywhere. One day it flew out the open door and struck the tail rotor leading to a crash.

It sounds like an apocryphal hangar story...

Still, if I flew a Robinson a lot, I'd probably carry a Bible, and a four leaf clover too... My instructor has 2000+ hours in tgem, I prefer the nice, forgiving Bell

Robinsons always make me thing someone made a scaled up R/C Helicopter... The look like you can flip them if you fart too hard

[ZRX61]

Years ago, I heard about the loss of a Robinson...it seems the pilot was very religious and carried his Bible everywhere. One day it flew out the open door and struck the tail rotor leading to a crash.

It sounds like an apocryphal hangar story...

Still, if I flew a Robinson a lot, I'd probably carry a Bible, and a four leaf clover too... My instructor has 2000+ hours in tgem, I prefer the nice, forgiving Bell

I try to avoid driving around Torrance in case one lands on my vehicle... People used to laugh at this.. then last month one crashed next to a road leading to one of the rotor blades fatally striking a passenger in a vehicle

[Chunks]

Since the FAA does NOT regulate public service aircraft, they would not "come after" the pilot.

Yes, they do "come after" pilots of public use aircraft.

[dusttinbound]

I was reading the NTSB reports and found an ag spraying helicopter that crashed because a bee got in the cockpit while spraying.

Kevin

[DB2]

Since the FAA does NOT regulate public service aircraft, they would not "come after" the pilot.

Yes, they do "come after" pilots of public use aircraft.

For a long time public use aircraft and the pilots flying them and the guys maintaining them effectively had immunity from the FARs. Then in the early 1990s there were a few high profile crashes with "public use aircraft" that killed some politicians and other VIPs and the feds started tightening the rules in the mid to late 1990s. Recently I believe there has been another tightening of the rules around public use aircraft.

I believe public use was originally meant for non-standard type operations, like firefighting or research flights, but a lot of states, universities, etc starting effectively running corporate flight departments under the guise of "public use", which really exposed "innocents" to unnecessary risks due to lack of adherence to the normal standards for pilot proficiency and maintenance.

That said, I had a gig flying public use aircraft in the early 1990s, and it was a helluva lot of fun...and I suspect these days such operations would result in immediate revocation of the certificates of all involved...

[DH82EH]

Last year a Canadian crew working on some high tension Hydro lines were killed when their helicopter crashed.
The cause was determined to be an improperly secured tool bag.
Helicopters can become extremely unforgiving, at what can seem like, minor oversights.

Andy

[Dan Jones]

I remember reading a story about a guy ferrying a P-39 up to Alaska. While in cruise he was having a sandwich but it wasn't quite to his liking and after a few bites he wadded the thing back up in the waxed paper, rolled down his side window a couple of inches and pushed it out...

But the sandwich had the last laugh:

It went straight into the carb air intake behind the canopy and, a few seconds later the big Allison suddenly went silent!

(Can you imagine?!)