MIA95LA131 · Aerospatiale AS-350B
Aerospatiale AS-350B · Accident: airframe, component or system failure while maneuvering
From Peter O Knight Airport (TPF) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA95LA131
- 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
Aerospatiale AS-350B
- Aircraft type
- Aerospatiale AS-350
- 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
- N35AH
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Peter O Knight Airport (TPF)To 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, inspection, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, not performed
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Tampa, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STATED HE FELT A FEEDBACK IN THE CYCLIC CONTROL AND THE CONTROLS LOCKED AS HE MADE A SHALLOW LEFT TURN AT ABOUT 800 FEET. THE HELICOPTER ENTERED A DESCENDING LEFT TURN TOWARD AN ISLAND AND THE PILOT RECEIVED INTERMITTENT HYDRAULIC SYSTEM FAILURE INDICATIONS BUT DID NOT FOLLOW MANUFACTURER'S PROCEDURES FOR HYDRAULIC SYSTEM FAILURE WHICH CALL FOR REDUCTION OF AIRSPEED TO BETWEEN 40 AND 60 KNOTS AND TURNING OFF OF THE HYDRAULIC SYSTEM. HE WAS UNABLE TO REGAIN CONTROL OF THE HELICOPTER PRIOR TO TOUCHING DOWN HARD, TAIL FIRST ON THE ISLAND. THE HELICOPTER THEN SKIDDED INTO THE WATER AND CAME TO REST. POST CRASH EXAMINATION SHOWED THE HYDRAULIC MANIFOLD AND FILTER WERE CLOGGED WITH DEBRIS FROM THE CORROSION OF THE MANIFOLD AND FILTER CAP. MANUFACTURER'S PROCEDURES REQUIRE THE FILTER AND MANIFOLD TO BE EXAMINED AT EACH 500 HOUR INSPECTION. THE HELICOPTER HAD RECEIVED A 500 HOUR INSPECTION ABOUT 6 WEEKS AND 50 FLIGHT HOURS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO FOLLOW MANUFACTURERS PROCEDURES AFTER FAILURE OF THE HYDRAULIC SYSTEM RESULTING IN LOSS OF CONTROL OF THE HELICOPTER. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE FAILURE OF MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL TO FOLLOW MANUFACTURERS PROCEDURES FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE HYDRAULIC SYSTEM.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA95LA131
- Event ID
- 20001207X03509
- Case number
- MIA95LA131
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1995-05-20.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 87003fc8d477f621e1c396b0fbbc77ec4545ece160f537e1d4b52916a9c000d7; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:16:55.470Z.