A National Transportation Safety Board report on a December 2009 helicopter crash in Hana, Maui, in which a commercial pilot and a Federal Aviation Administration inspector were seriously injured, presents a frightening narrative of a routine safety exercise that turned into a life-threatening emergency.
The report, released Thursday, does not draw any conclusions about the cause of the crash, but does summarize findings from the board’s comprehensive investigation of the parties involved, the helicopter, weather, wreckage information and subsequent tests and research.
In May, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren ruled that the government was not at fault for the crash of the Aerospatiale AS-350B helicopter owned and operated by Sunshine Helicopters of Kahului. The ruling came despite assertions by Sunshine President Ross Scott and pilot Stephen Shull that the FAA inspector, Donald Andera, caused the crash by improperly initiating a simulated engine failure during a competency check flight.
The NTSB report includes accounts by Andera and Shull regarding the abortive round-trip flight from Kahului Airport to Hana.
The check flight, a requirement for Shull’s job piloting commercial air tours, began just before 1 p.m. Dec. 16, after an oral examination and a briefing by Andera on the specific maneuvers (including a simulated engine failure) to be performed during the flight.
About a mile south of Hana, Andera indicated the start of the simulated engine failure and, according to the report, "brought the throttle out of the full open flight run position … and just aft enough back toward flight idle to keep it from springing back into the gate."
Andera, an FAA operations inspector in the Honolulu Flight Standards District Office, told the NTSB that "he and the pilot had briefed this prior to the flight and that they were to recover with power before getting too low."
However, it soon became apparent that the engine was no longer working.
As the report said, "the pilot did try to restart, but it was quickly evident that a restart was not an option due to the rapidly approaching ground."
Aware that the helicopter would not be able to make it to Hana, the pilot headed toward a grassy landing spot. The copter made a hard landing on the uneven, sloping terrain, injuring both Shull and Andera and causing significant damage to the aircraft.
Shull, an experienced commercial pilot with 4,458 hours of flight time in rotorcraft at the time of the crash, told NTSB investigators he was unaware that Andera had moved the throttle but was nonetheless prepared to execute the appropriate measures for a simulated engine failure once Andera told him that the exercise had started.
Shull also said, "You have to be gentle and slow with (the throttle) as you retard the lever. If you pull it back too far or fast, it will shut off the fuel."
Andera, who had a total flight time of about 10,800 hours (6,345 in rotorcraft helicopters) at the time, said he had previously conducted check rides for the same model of helicopter for another operator.
The NTSB reported noted a March 14, 2009, pilot discrepancy write-up for the helicopter that documented "an uncommanded flame-out of the engine."
Subsequent maintenance linked the flame-out to possible water accumulation at the bottom of the inlet housing after a heavy rain.
Testimony from company pilots revealed three other incidents in which the engine inadvertently shut down. None of these three events was documented in the company system, according to the NTSB report.
