FTW98LA367 · Aerospatiale SA315B
Aerospatiale SA315B · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) while maneuvering
From Nucla, CO (no airport) to an unrecorded destination
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's injuries. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW98LA367
- 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 SA315B
- Aircraft type
- Aerospatiale SA315
- 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
- N49525
- Operator
- Geo-Seis
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Nucla, CO (no airport)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 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
- Turboshaft engine, gas generator turbine › Burned
- Turboshaft engine, gas generator turbine › Eroded
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While approaching a hover during external load operations carrying a 1,200-pound compressor, the engine lost partial power and the pilot conducted an emergency landing without releasing the load due to proximity of ground personnel. The landing was hard, in trees, and the helicopter sustained substantial damage. The pilot received serious injuries. Examination of the engine provided evidence of overheat in the turbine area and both the stator and turbine blades were eroded with the turbine blades eroded about 1/3 of their length. The fuel control and fuel pump were tested and operated within normal parameters. No evidence was found to explain the cause of the overheat.
Probable cause
Partial loss of engine power resulting from heat induced deterioration of the gas generator turbine. Factors were a forced landing in hilly unsuitable terrain containing mature trees.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW98LA367
- Event ID
- 20001211X10857
- Case number
- FTW98LA367
- 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: c5e737e407b198a721f32992a6061946d2e80944ad6ce5db852113efb866fa6f; retrieved 2026-09-21T20:42:40.255Z.