SEA94LA228 · Sikorsky S-64F
Sikorsky S-64F · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering
From Libby Airport (S59) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA94LA228
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Sikorsky S-64F
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky S-64
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N165AC
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Libby Airport (S59), MTTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- In flight collision with terrain/water
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- External load release system › Inoperative
- Pilot in command › Aircraft weight and balance, exceeded
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER WAS ON A MAINTENANCE TEST FLIGHT TO TEST A RETARDANT TANK SYSTEM THAT WAS USED TO CARRY AND DISPENSE WATER. AFTER ARRIVING AT A LAKE, THE FLIGHT CREW HOVERED THE HELICOPTER WHILE LOWERING THE SNORKEL TO ONLOAD WATER. HOWEVER, THE QUANTITY INDICATOR WAS MALFUNCTIONING, AND THE CREW MEMBERS WERE UNSURE IF WATER WAS BEING ONLOADED. THE PILOT OPTED TO FLY OUT OF THE HOVER AND DUMP THE WATER FROM THE RETARDANT TANK. AS THE FLIGHT BEGAN TO DEPART THE AREA, THE PILOT NOTED THAT THE HELICOPTER WAS LACKING RESPONSE TO THE COLLECTIVE AND THE RATE OF CLIMB WAS SLOW. WHEN THE WATER WOULD NOT DUMP FROM THE TANK, THE FLIGHT CREW TRIED TO JETTISON THE TANK. NEITHER SYSTEM WOULD WORK. THE ROTOR RPM BEGAN TO DECREASE AND THE HELICOPTER SETTLED INTO THE WATER AND SANK. DURING AN INVESTIGATION, NO MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF EITHER ENGINE WAS FOUND. WHEN CHECKED, THE RETARDANT (WATER) QUANTITY INDICATOR SYSTEM WAS INOPERATIVE AND WOULD ONLY SENSE THAT THERE WAS NO WATER IN THE TANK. TO RELEASE WATER, THE SYSTEM NEEDED TO SENSE THAT THERE WAS ENOUGH WATER FOR THE SELECTED SETTING; THEREFORE, THE TANK DOORS WOULD NOT OPEN TO DUMP WATER WITH THIS MALFUNCTION. NO EVIDENCE WAS FOUND TO DETERMINE WHY THE EMERGENCY TANK DROP SYSTEM DID NOT FUNCTION. USING ESTIMATES, PERFORMANCE DATA INDICATED THE HELICOPTER WAS ABOVE THE MAXIMUM GROSS WEIGHT AND WAS POWER LIMITED FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS. ELEVATION OF THE LAKE WAS ABOUT 6500 FEET; AIR TEMPERATURE WAS ABOUT 63 DEGREES.
Probable cause
THE FLIGHT CREW ALLOWED THE HELICOPTER'S WEIGHT AND BALANCE TO BE EXCEEDED, AND THE EXTERNAL LOAD (TANK) JETTISON SYSTEM FAILED TO OPERATE. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: THE FALSE INDICATION ON THE RETARDANT QUANTITY INDICATOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA94LA228
- Event ID
- 20001206X02351
- Case number
- SEA94LA228
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 7c9e4894d4ceaa0b55fba031a5c658147edb322bf6207283f143c8bf5435d1a2; retrieved 2026-09-21T22:30:19.331Z.