Question

One night, a sheriff’s department helicopter lands a SWAT team in the yard of a rural residence suspected of containing a methamphetamine lab. After the raiding party disembarked, and as the pilot was turning the aircraft in a hover to depart, the helicopter's tail rotor contacted a barbed-wire fence and was damaged to the extent it will have to be replaced. No one was injured.
Analyze the NTSB notification and reporting requirements that apply, showing your analytical process clearly.

Answer 1

Answer:

The incident has to be reported to NTSB.

Explanation:

According to the rules set out by NTSB:

''An accident is defined as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft that takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person suffers death or serious injury, or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage. An incident is an occurrence other than an accident that affects or could affect the safety of operations.''

Even though there were no deaths or serious injury in this case, the helicopter’s tail is damaged to the point where it has to be replaced, it does under the definition of what an Aircraft Incident is as set-out by NTSB definitions and it becomes an incident that has to be reported to the NTSB. The operator is required to file a report and only then can be the tail section can be replaced.

Answer 2

Answer:

The accident must be reported immediately to NTSB by the operators of the helicopter (Sherrif Department), in line with the federal regulations. It is reported as an accident because it is an occurrence associated with operation of an aircraft that takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, and in with any person suffers death or serious injury, or which the aircraft receives substantial damage.

The analysis of the report must be in the form OR must contain information under listed below:

Type, nationality, and registration marks of the aircraft;

Name of owner, and operator of the aircraft;

Name of the pilot-in-command;

Date and time of the accident;

Last point of departure and point of intended landing of the aircraft;

Position of the aircraft with reference to some easily defined geographical point;

Number of persons aboard, number killed, and number seriously injured(in case there is deaths or severe injuries)

Nature of the accident, the weather and the extent of damage to the aircraft, so far as is known;

A description of any explosives, radioactive materials, or other dangerous articles carried(The rural area, where the SWAT team conveyed by the crashed helicopter is containing a methamphetamine lab)