The captain of an air ambulance helicopter flight; overflying a military installation; received a ta...

Narrative:

I was flying a patient to the hospital with our base nurse and a medic on board. The tower had cleared me across the large airport located on the direct route to the hospital. While I was over the military portion of the airport ramp; the tail rotor gear box chip light illuminated. I declared an emergency with tower and requested to land on the ramp immediately under the aircraft; which happened to be a restricted area on the ramp. They gave me permission to land and asked if I needed any assistance. I landed the aircraft without further incident. Crash fire rescue equipment and security forces responded after we landed. We coordinated with a surface ambulance company to pick up the patient and they did so with half an hour. I coordinated with the security forces for the arrival of our maintenance crew to repair the aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The Captain of an air ambulance helicopter flight; overflying a military installation; received a Tail Rotor Gearbox Chip Detector warning; declared an emergency and successfully requested and completed an emergency landing on the military ramp directly beneath them.

Narrative: I was flying a patient to the hospital with our base Nurse and a Medic on board. The Tower had cleared me across the large airport located on the direct route to the hospital. While I was over the military portion of the airport ramp; the Tail Rotor Gear Box Chip Light illuminated. I declared an emergency with Tower and requested to land on the ramp immediately under the aircraft; which happened to be a restricted area on the ramp. They gave me permission to land and asked if I needed any assistance. I landed the aircraft without further incident. CFR and Security Forces responded after we landed. We coordinated with a surface Ambulance Company to pick up the patient and they did so with half an hour. I coordinated with the Security Forces for the arrival of our Maintenance crew to repair the aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1038187
Time
Date	201209
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Helicopter
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	VFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Tail Rotor Drive Gearbox
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Airspace Violation All Types

The captain of an air ambulance helicopter flight; overflying a military installation; received a tail rotor gearbox chip detector warning; declared an emergency and successfully requested and completed an emergency landing on the military ramp directly beneath them.