Corvallis Municipal Airport: Corvallis, Oregon

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The flight instructor reported that he was flying an instructional cross-country flight with a student. They stopped for fuel at an airport near sea level and were returning to their home base. When they departed, the wind was from 300 degrees at 16 knots, gusting to 20 knots. They decided to do a pinnacle landing to a 4,060-foot mountain. As the student approached the peak for landing, a downdraft was encountered. The main rotor disk low rpm indicators activated, and the flight instructor took the controls and attempted to salvage the situation. The helicopter's landing skid impacted terrain, and the aircraft rolled twice down the mountain. The flight instructor and student exited with minor injuries.

On January 17, 2010, about 1622 Pacific standard time, a Cessna 182R, N702, collided with mountainous terrain 9 miles northwest of Corvallis, Oregon. The Department of Fish and Wildlife operated the airplane as a public-use positioning flight. The commercial pilot and passenger were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan had been filed. The flight originated at Newport Municipal Airport, Newport, Oregon, about 1600. According to Department of Fish and Wildlife officials, the airplane had completed a wildlife survey in the vicinity of Olympia, Washington. The airplane landed at Newport Municipal Airport, purchased fuel, and the crew updated their flight plan. They departed Newport about 1600 for the Corvallis airport, which is where the airplane was based. At 1833, the airplane was reported overdue and search efforts commenced. Initial radar data indicated that the airplane roughly followed
Highway 20 to the east from Newport, which leads to Corvallis. The last radar return occurred at 1622, 2,400 feet mean sea level (msl), in the vicinity of where the wreckage was located. A combination of air and ground search and rescue teams located the wreckage around 0830 on January 18th, by homing in on the airplane's emergency locater transmitter (ELT) beacon. The terrain elevation in the vicinity of the wreckage is approximately 1,500 feet msl. The Newport Municipal Airport Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS-3) recorded at 1611, winds from 130 degrees, 6 knots gusting to 14; 7 statute miles visibility in rain; scattered clouds at 3,900 feet and overcast at 4,500 feet. The Corvallis Municipal Airport AWOS-3 recorded at 1635, winds from 020 degrees at 5 knots; 10 statute miles visibility; few clouds at 3,700 feet, scattered clouds at 4,300 feet, and overcast at 5,000 feet. Updated on Jan 29 2010 2:37PM
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On April 7, 2009, about 1530 Pacific daylight time, a Sikorsky CH-54B (Skycrane), N719HT, was substantially damaged following touchdown at the Corvallis Municipal Airport, Corvallis, Oregon, when the main rotor blades diverted from their normal rotation plane and severed the tail rotor drive shaft. The helicopter was operated by Helicopter Transport Services, Corvallis. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan had been filed. Neither the airline transport certificated pilot, who held a certified flight instructor (CFI) certificate, nor the second crewmember-pilot was injured during the instructional/proficiency flight. The flight was performed under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 and originated from Corvallis about 1500.

The CFI reported to the National Transportation Safety Board investigator that the helicopter had operated normally prior to the mishap, although a vibration was felt during ground operation. Therefore, the collective position was kept up about 2 inches, which seemed to reduce the ground vibrations.

After practicing four or five landings from a hover, the pilot, who was receiving instruction, landed to adjust his seat position. He handed off the controls to the CFI. The CFI lowered the collective to the full down position, in preparation for the seat adjustment. The terrain on which he landed was sloped. The CFI reported that as he "lowered the collective to the full down position, a vibration was noticed, followed by a loud 'bang', followed by severe vibrations. An emergency shut down followed, with immediate application of the rotor brake." After exiting the helicopter, it was determined that the number 5 & 6 tail rotor drive shaft sections had departed the helicopter, with damage to 2 of the 6 main rotor blades.

During the subsequent examination of the helicopter, the CFI verbally reported to the Safety Board investigator that the accident occurred when the main rotor blades diverged from their normal plane of rotation and contacted the tail rotor drive shaft.

The operator's director of maintenance verbally reported to the Safety Board investigator that maintenance of the helicopter was by the company's mechanics. During maintenance, the bellcranks that connect to the control rods had been incorrectly installed (in a reversed manner) thereby allowing the swashplate to travel outside of its designed range.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel, who examined the wreckage and interviewed the operator's mechanics, stated they were unable to ascertain the date on which the subject bellcranks had been installed, but it appeared to have been several years prior to the accident date. To reduce the likelihood for recurrence of this type of accident, the operator modified its maintenance procedure regarding bellcrank installation. Updated on Jan 27 2010 5:49PM
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The student was at the controls as the instructional flight approached the airport from the east on a practice VOR-A approach. Because the student misunderstood the instructor’s directions to touch down on the numbers of Runway 17, he proceeded to a grassy area between the approach ends of Runway 35 and Runway 27. During the last part of his approach to the grassy area, the student had the helicopter headed into the wind, but when he was about 30 to 40 feet above the ground, he initiated a right turn in order to air-taxi to the helicopter landing pad. During that turn, the helicopter was exposed to a direct tailwind of between five to seven knots, and during that sequence of events, the student failed to maintain directional control, and the aircraft began spinning to the right. Although the instructor pilot took control of the aircraft, her remedial action was not taken soon enough to recover control before the helicopter's left skid impacted the
terrain. After the skid hit the terrain, the aircraft rolled over onto its left side, where it came to rest. There were no issues with the helicopter's flight control system, nor any problem with the engine's production of power.

The private pilot/owner of the airplane departed from his home base airport and landed at another airport to pick up another pilot/certified flight instructor (CFI). From this point, the flight departed to a local area airport where per data collected from the GPS indicated that the flight accomplished several race track orbits in what appeared to be a holding pattern. The flight then proceeded southbound to another airport where a landing was made. The pilots ate dinner and fueled the airplane before departing further south where the flight again executed three obits in a holding pattern over an airstrip before continuing on to another airport where another set of race track type holding patterns were executed approximately 3.5 miles southwest of the eventual accident site. The flight then flew west-northwesterly toward the area of the accident site where the tracking stopped. Family members to both pilots reported that the CFI had been giving the
private pilot flight instruction for an instrument rating. The family members to the CFI, who were also witnesses, reported that it was common practice that when the CFI returned home from working in another state, he would fly over his family residences which notified them that he was home. He would then fly to a nearby airport where he kept his vehicle. The accident site was located across the road from the family residences. The CFI's family members reported hearing a low flying airplane in the area and assumed that it was his flight. The airplane was not observed, but they did report hearing the sound of a collision. Another witness, not a family member, reported that he observed a low wing airplane flying about treetop height down the canyon before it made a turn back up the canyon. The accident site was located on hilly terrain in a clear cut area covered with tree stumps and piles of slash. Evidence gathered at the site indicated that the
aircraft collided with the terrain in a left wing low attitude. Post-accident examination of the airframe and engine did not disclose any evidence to support a mechanical failure or malfunction. It was not determined which pilot was manipulating the flight controls at the time of the accident.