Continental Copters TOMCAT MK5A N9005T

Summary

On 27 July 2018 at about 02:00 local time, a Continental Copters TOMCAT MK5A registered N9005T, operated by Scotts Helicopter Service Inc, was involved in an accident near Le Sueur, Minnesota, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 July 2018 at 02:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Le Sueur, Minnesota, United States

Coordinates

44.4714, -93.7447

Aircraft

Continental Copters TOMCAT MK5A

Registration

N9005T

Category

Helicopter

Year built

1974

Engines

1

Operator

Scotts Helicopter Service Inc

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hastings → Le Sueur

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

CEN18LA300

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot's inadequate preflight and in-flight fuel planning, during which he did not visually check the fuel quantity in the fuel tanks and instead relied on the fuel gauges that were showing erroneous fuel quantity indications, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and the subsequent loss of engine power during cruise flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot stated that, during the preflight inspection of the helicopter before the agricultural flight, there were about 23 gallons of fuel onboard, which he determined was sufficient to complete the 45- to 60-minute flight to his destination. The pilot stated that, before departure, the helicopter fuel gauge indicated "close" to 3/4 full. Based on the helicopter's total fuel capacity (41 gallons), a 3/4-fuel quantity indication would have equated to about 30 gallons. About 50 minutes into the flight and 7 miles from the destination airport, the engine lost power. The pilot performed an autorotation to a field, during which the helicopter impacted terrain and sustained substantial damage. During postaccident examination of the helicopter, no usable fuel was found; however, the fuel gauge indicated a little over a 1/4 tank of fuel remaining. The examination revealed that the fuel transmitter's resistive element was corroded. The fuel transmitter was tested, and the resistive values were uncorrelated to the transmitter's float position. A new fuel transmitter from the operator's parts department was tested, and the resistive values corresponded to the float position no anomalies were noted. Although the fuel gauge was indicating that a sufficient amount of fuel was onboard for the flight, the pilot should have visually checked the fuel quantity in the tanks before takeoff to ensure that a sufficient amount of fuel was onboard for the flight, which he did not do. His improper preflight fuel planning and his dependence on erroneous fuel gauges led to the subsequent fuel exhaustion and total loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.