Independence Airport: Independence, Oregon
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Airport
Area Accident History:
The pilot reported that he was spraying Christmas
trees, when the engine experienced an over speed condition and he "lost all
power to the transmission." The pilot initiated a forced landing to a field.
During the forced landing, the helicopter touched down hard and bent the
tail boom. The pilot stated that the engine was producing power, but it
wasn't being delivered to the rotor blades. Examination of the helicopter
revealed the shaft of the main drive belt tension assembly was fractured,
which resulted in the main drive belt disengaging from the transmission.
Materials examination of the shaft showed that the shaft fractured due to
high cycle, low stress fatigue. The fatigue initiated from multiple origins
at the thread root. No material defects specific to the origin were noted,
but overall hardness values suggested that the shaft strength was less than
typical strength values for the specified material. It remained undetermined
whether the strength
was above the design minimum since no material specifications for the shaft
could be produced by the manufacturer. (Monmouth)
Just after liftoff, the engine was not able to develop sufficient power
for the initial climb. Although the engine never fully ceased operation, it
was only able to produce partial power. The pilot stated that as the
airplane reached about 2,000 feet down the runway he considered aborting the
takeoff attempt, but the airplane was too high for the remaining runway. The
airplane entered a spin and the pilot attempted to recover, which resulted
in the airplane impacting the ground in a flat attitude. An examination of
the engine revealed no mechanical or electrical malfunctions that would have
precluded the engine from normal operation.
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The pilot was hand-propping the airplane to start it, and it taxied away
with him hanging onto the left wing strut. The airplane subsequently
impacted two other parked airplanes. The accident airplane's right wing spar
and strut were bent.
Independence
Airport Approach/Landing Video:
