Enstrom 280FX down in USA, 2 fatal
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Joined: Apr 2005
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From: USA
Joined: Aug 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
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From: Gold Coast, Australia
NTSB reports a blade separation 
NTSB Identification: CEN15FA126
NTSB: Helicopter lost main rotor blades before fatal Erie crash
NTSB Identification: CEN15FA126
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Monday, January 26, 2015 in Erie, CO
Aircraft: ENSTROM 280FX, registration: N86235
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
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. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On January 26, 2015 about 1202 mountain standard time (MST), an Enstrom 280FX, N86235, was destroyed when it impacted terrain during final approach for landing at the Erie Municipal Airport (EIK), Erie, Colorado. Both the instructor pilot and student pilot were fatally injured and the helicopter was destroyed. The helicopter was registered to New Course Aviation Company and operated by Mountain One Helicopters as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local flight which operated without a flight plan.
A witness reported that the helicopter was on final approach for landing on the runway at what seemed a steep angle of descent. As the helicopter descended, she heard a loud "pop" and the helicopter began to rotate and then the main rotor blades departed off the top of the helicopter. The remainder of the helicopter fell to the ground, impacted, and then "exploded."
Accident occurred Monday, January 26, 2015 in Erie, CO
Aircraft: ENSTROM 280FX, registration: N86235
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
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. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On January 26, 2015 about 1202 mountain standard time (MST), an Enstrom 280FX, N86235, was destroyed when it impacted terrain during final approach for landing at the Erie Municipal Airport (EIK), Erie, Colorado. Both the instructor pilot and student pilot were fatally injured and the helicopter was destroyed. The helicopter was registered to New Course Aviation Company and operated by Mountain One Helicopters as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local flight which operated without a flight plan.
A witness reported that the helicopter was on final approach for landing on the runway at what seemed a steep angle of descent. As the helicopter descended, she heard a loud "pop" and the helicopter began to rotate and then the main rotor blades departed off the top of the helicopter. The remainder of the helicopter fell to the ground, impacted, and then "exploded."
NTSB: Helicopter lost main rotor blades before fatal Erie crash
The helicopter that crashed in Erie last week -- killing both people on board -- lost its main rotor after coming in for a landing at a "steep angle," according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The crash happened just after noon on Jan. 26 at Erie Municipal Airport, 395 Airport Road, according to the report. The helicopter, an Enstrom 280FX owned by New Course Aviation Company and operated by Erie-based Mountain One Helicopters, was on a training flight and did not have a flight plan.
Mountain One Helicopters told the Daily Camera last week that the flight would not have left the airport area.
According to the NTSB report, a witness said the helicopter was preparing to land on the runway "at what seemed a steep angle of descent."
The witness said that as the helicopter began to descend, she heard a loud "pop."
"The helicopter began to rotate and then the main rotor blades departed off the top of the helicopter," the report said. "The remainder of the helicopter fell to the ground, impacted and then 'exploded.'"
A final report on the crash likely will take several more months.
Both the instructor, Alex Viola, 23, of Arkansas City, Kan., and the student, Amy Wood, 25, of Boulder, were fatally injured in the crash. The report did not say who was believed to have been flying the helicopter during the crash.
Officials with Mountain One Helicopters also said they did not know who was flying, though they did say Wood was nearing her certification.
Mountain One Helicopters operates out of Erie at 395 Airport Drive, just south of the airport.
According to his biography on the company's website, Viola specialized in initial flight training and ground instruction for private and commercial students, and he had been flying since 2007.
The crash happened just after noon on Jan. 26 at Erie Municipal Airport, 395 Airport Road, according to the report. The helicopter, an Enstrom 280FX owned by New Course Aviation Company and operated by Erie-based Mountain One Helicopters, was on a training flight and did not have a flight plan.
Mountain One Helicopters told the Daily Camera last week that the flight would not have left the airport area.
According to the NTSB report, a witness said the helicopter was preparing to land on the runway "at what seemed a steep angle of descent."
The witness said that as the helicopter began to descend, she heard a loud "pop."
"The helicopter began to rotate and then the main rotor blades departed off the top of the helicopter," the report said. "The remainder of the helicopter fell to the ground, impacted and then 'exploded.'"
A final report on the crash likely will take several more months.
Both the instructor, Alex Viola, 23, of Arkansas City, Kan., and the student, Amy Wood, 25, of Boulder, were fatally injured in the crash. The report did not say who was believed to have been flying the helicopter during the crash.
Officials with Mountain One Helicopters also said they did not know who was flying, though they did say Wood was nearing her certification.
Mountain One Helicopters operates out of Erie at 395 Airport Drive, just south of the airport.
According to his biography on the company's website, Viola specialized in initial flight training and ground instruction for private and commercial students, and he had been flying since 2007.
Joined: Feb 2008
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From: Manitoba Canada
"Rotor departed the helicopter"
... one picture showed the (departed) rotor with the mast and transmission still attached and one of the rotor blades in a different location ... maybe one blade came off first and the resulting imbalance tore the rest of the assembly off.
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... one picture showed the (departed) rotor with the mast and transmission still attached and one of the rotor blades in a different location ... maybe one blade came off first and the resulting imbalance tore the rest of the assembly off.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 814
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From: Iceland
Emergency AD issued. Apparently crack in MR spindle!
http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Gu..._Emergency.pdf
http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Gu..._Emergency.pdf
Joined: Jul 2013
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From: USA
I would be interested to see if they can determine the maintenance history and overspeed occurrence during practice autos. I wouldn't be surprised they don't find any more spindles that are cracked. As a private owner this is really a hardship on me. Why is it that all owners of a particular model of aircraft have to be penalized because an idiot abuses or flies outside of parameters and doesn't report it. I would suspect they have no way of knowing the history of overspeeds on that ship. FAA did the same thing to me on my Mooney. Some idiot decides to do aerobatics and crack the aileron control rods so everyone has to have theirs' removed to be re-enforced just in case you do aerobatics that aren't certified for.
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: USA
Why is it that all owners of a particular model of aircraft have to be penalized because an idiot abuses or flies outside of parameters and doesn't report it. I would suspect they have no way of knowing the history of overspeeds on that ship.
Do your spindles have more than 5000 hours on them?
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 1
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From: ND
Be Respectfull
IVFlyer, I went to that flight school and several others. I was one of the first people to talk to Alex when he started flying. We used to hang out and goof off when I was still down there. There are real people involved. WATCH YOUR &%$#@ COMMENTS! That being said.....no, there is no real way of telling how a ship is treated. Incidents like this and modifications like your talking are done to help prevent future failures, your "aerobatic" maneuvers may be somebodies saving grace in another situation.
again lets be respectful please.
RIP Alex
again lets be respectful please.
RIP Alex
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 339
Likes: 1
From: Shelton WA.
IVFlyer was just expressing frustration that's all. I've been around long enough to know that the majority of airworthiness directives are generated due to errors or negligence on somebodies part, who did something wrong and didn't report it, which lead to a failure due to "unknown causes". Then everybody is penalized by the mandatory action, which the authorities must initiate.
Joined: Aug 2008
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From: UK
Yup @Gemini - I've nailed in GA by that one:
Failure spotted in one a/c at CofA time
Major panic - all aircraft of sub-type grounded
All inspected requiring much expense.
Guess what - not one single one found with any issues
Red faces all round.
Some months later all a/c now released back into service
Problem with the sole aircraft now mysteriously re-categorised as improper inspection/storage.
General level of fury from the other others directed at the sole owner that couldn't do things properly.
Failure spotted in one a/c at CofA time
Major panic - all aircraft of sub-type grounded
All inspected requiring much expense.
Guess what - not one single one found with any issues
Red faces all round.
Some months later all a/c now released back into service
Problem with the sole aircraft now mysteriously re-categorised as improper inspection/storage.
General level of fury from the other others directed at the sole owner that couldn't do things properly.
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 93
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From: USA
I didn't mean any disrespect so I apologize if any taken. I reread my comments and don't see any though. Just stating facts about not any way of knowing how it was flown. Fact is out of hundreds tested, I have it on good authority, no cracks have been found. Also on my Mooney no cracks on the ailerons were found neither. We all pay when others choose to be test pilots, as was the case on the Mooney. They aren't certified for aerobatics, but I was told by one instructor they routinely did barrel rolls in the school's.
Last edited by lvflyer; 11th March 2015 at 02:09.
Joined: Sep 2013
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From: KY
lvflyer all three spindles were found cracked on the accident aircraft plus they've found one additional spindle cracked since the A/D. That was straight from Enstrom and NTSB at HeliExpo. They said "to take this seriously".
Joined: Aug 2009
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From: Texas
Did you get the idea that they were worried that there was a bad lot of spindles that had been produced and that other aircraft needed to check serial numbers?
Joined: Dec 2001
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From: Philadelphia PA
I heard that the aircraft was close to 30 years old, and had close to 10K hours. Was there need to inspect the spindles by either age or hours?
Going to be pretty difficult to track down a manufacturing problem with that age and hours, isn't it?
Going to be pretty difficult to track down a manufacturing problem with that age and hours, isn't it?
Joined: Mar 2008
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From: Colorado
N86235 - Enstrom 280fx, S/N 2002, built 1985. It had 9,300 hours total time. Through the grapevine I heard that it was formerly operated by a California police department (Pasadena?) and that it had a "hard landing" and tail/blade strike with one of its previous owners.
From the type certificate (H1CE), the MR spindle appears the be an "on condition" item.
The location of the cracks would have made it impossible to inspect for them without removing the retention nut for the spindle, which only comes off to replace the lamiflex bearing.
http://www.enstromhelicopter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Spindle-MPI-SDB-0119-T-050.pdf
I don't believe there was any age/hours inspection schedule in place. I suspect that there are inadequate post-accident inspection and replacement procedures that should be changed.
From the type certificate (H1CE), the MR spindle appears the be an "on condition" item.
The location of the cracks would have made it impossible to inspect for them without removing the retention nut for the spindle, which only comes off to replace the lamiflex bearing.
http://www.enstromhelicopter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Spindle-MPI-SDB-0119-T-050.pdf
I don't believe there was any age/hours inspection schedule in place. I suspect that there are inadequate post-accident inspection and replacement procedures that should be changed.