Schuman Aviation Eurocopter AS 350 BA accident
Eurocopter AS 350 BA · Accident: loss of engine power (partial) on approach
From Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) to Honolulu, HI
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR09FA072
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Eurocopter AS 350 BA
- Aircraft type
- Eurocopter 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
- N141MK
- Operator
- Schuman Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), Honolulu, HITo Honolulu, HI
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- Defining eventThe 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
- Loss of engine power (partial)
- 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
- Not determined › Not determined
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The purpose of the flight was to transport a worker to an antenna located on a ridge top at an elevation of about 2,400 feet. The pilot reported that the flight to the location was uneventful and that he completed his prelanding checklist and noted nothing abnormal. Just prior to landing, there was a loss of engine power. According to the pilot, “the engine felt and sounded like it was winding down and rotor RPM was starting to bleed off.” At this point the helicopter was less than 10 feet from the landing site and was not holding altitude. The pilot maneuvered the helicopter so that it touched down and rolled over onto its right side, which prevented the helicopter from falling down the steep slope of the ridge. After the helicopter came to rest, the pilot shut down the engine. Examination of the helicopter revealed no discrepancies with the fuel system. Engine continuity was established. A pneumatic leak check was performed and leaks were identified at the temperature compensator and at the PX acceleration bellows. A test cell run of the engine was completed without tightening any of the pneumatic fittings. During the test cell run, the engine achieved maximum continuous, takeoff, and thermodynamic shaft horsepower. The engine did not surge during transient deceleration and acceleration runs, and was responsive to commanded throttle inputs. No preexisting condition was identified on the engine that would have interfered with normal operation or explain the reported loss of engine power.
Probable cause
The partial loss of engine power during landing for an undetermined reason.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR09FA072
- Event ID
- 20090105X82128
- Case number
- WPR09FA072
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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, coordinates. 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: b3c293c9e54ed86d9ee009a278100ebf7e909bfdac92a832133e98904822209e; retrieved 2026-09-15T10:40:06.076Z.