Papillon Hawallian Hel Aerospatiale AS-350D accident
Aerospatiale AS-350D · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering
From Waikoloa Heliport (HI07) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA014
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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-350D
- 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
- N35961
- Operator
- Papillon Hawallian Hel
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Waikoloa Heliport (HI07), Waikoloa, HITo 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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 · hover
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Compressor assembly › Stall
- Weather condition › Unfavorable wind
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER WAS HOVERING NEAR THE EDGE OF THE VOLCANICALLY ACTIVE CRATER AT 15 TO 20 FEET ABOVE GROUND LEVEL. THE HELICOPTER WAS HOVERING DOWNWIND OF THE VENT. SEVERAL LOUD POPPING SOUNDS WERE HEARD COMING FROM THE ENGINE AND THE PILOT SENSED A LOSS OF POWER. THE PILOT AUTO ROTATED TO A DOWN SLOPE HARD LANDING AND THE MAIN ROTOR CONTACTED THE TAIL BOOM. AFTER RECOVERY FROM THE ACCIDENT SITE, THE ENGINE WAS EXAMINED WHILE STILL IN PLACE IN THE HELICOPTER. FUEL SAMPLES WERE REMOVED FROM THE TANK AND SUMP, AND FOUND TO BE CLEAR. ALL PC AIR LINES WERE PRESSURE CHECKED, WITH A SMALL LEAK DETECTED ON THE INLET SIDE OF THE PC FILTER. THE ENGINE WAS STARTED AND TEST RUN IN THE AIRFRAME UP TO 72% N1, WITH NO ADVERSE FINDINGS. THE ENGINE WAS REMOVED FROM THE HELICOPTER AND SHIPPED TO THE LYCOMING FACTORY WHERE IT WAS INSTALLED IN A TEST CELL. THE ENGINE WAS RUN FOR 50 MINUTES, TO INCLUDE AN ACCELERATION TEST. THE ENGINE DEVELOPED AND SUSTAINED FULL POWER IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE AEROSPATIALLE AS-350D AIRFRAME APPLICATION. NO MALFUNCTIONS OR DEFECTS WERE NOTED.
Probable cause
1) A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DUE TO THE INGESTION OF GASSES FROM THE ACTIVE VOLCANO VENT, AND 2) THE PILOTS INFLIGHT DECISION TO HOVER DOWNWIND IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE VENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA014
- Event ID
- 20001212X18324
- Case number
- LAX92LA014
- 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: f16a83bd1ebbb6dad09fb268bdae27717f828be34b0a6bb6f570c9c7e79d1a96; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:51:22.830Z.