Primary finding
Probable cause
the pilot's failure to maintain tail rotor clearance during a right pedal turn while hovering.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
The air medical helicopter was performing a landing on a paved traffic turn-out immediately next to a state highway. The pilot was hovering the aircraft just above the ground, and he decided to reorient the helicopter to facilitate loading the patient. During the right pedal turn, the tail rotor struck a 55 gallon trash barrel. The helicopter yawed to the right, and the pilot brought the throttles to flight idle and landed the helicopter.
Source record
Factual narrative
On April 6, 2001, at approximately 1715 mountain daylight time, a Bell 222UT, N222LF, was substantially damaged when its tail rotor impacted a barrel during an off airport landing near Alcova, Wyoming. The airline transport pilot and his two passengers were not injured. Corporate Jets, Inc., of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, was operating the helicopter under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the air medical evacuation positioning flight that originated approximately 30 minutes before the accident from Casper, Wyoming. No flight plan had been filed. According to the pilot, he was landing the helicopter to meet an ambulance for a critical patient transfer. The landing area was visually checked by the pilot and the two medical personnel onboard. The helicopter landed on a paved traffic turn-out area immediately next to highway 220. The pilot said that he was hovering just above the ground and he decided to reorient the aircraft to facilitate loading the patient. During the right pedal turn, the tail rotor struck a 55 gallon trash barrel. The helicopter yawed to the right, and the pilot brought the throttles to flight idle and landed the helicopter. The tail boom was twisted, the tail rotor blades were damaged, and the tail rotor gear box was nearly separated from the airframe.