Narrative:

I accepted a flight request. I had a nurse; rt; and a paramedic for the flight. The medical crew loaded up the isolette and bags in the aircraft while I took down our new sun shields from the windshields; front doors and sliding doors. It was after dark but the sunshades were still in the windows. I did a walk around but failed to see that the tail rotor blade was still tied down. While I was doing my walk around I was also telling the rt that I had put the case with the nigh vision goggles (nvg) in her seat. I then got in the aircraft and started the check list. I started the number two engine first. As I was starting the engine; the rt asked me to help her with her nvg mount. I told her I was starting the engine but would help her in a minute. As the N1 approached 30% I noticed that the blades were not turning and I aborted the start. I realized that I must have missed the tail rotor tie down on my walk around. I got out and checked and sure enough; the tail rotor was still tied down. I then called the mechanic and canceled the flight. The N1 went to 31% and the tot was about 650 degrees when I aborted the start. I am not trying to make excuses for what was an exceptionally poor walk around. I take full responsibility for failing to see the tie down. I let the distraction of removing the new window shades and talking with the med crew about something that could have waited until after I was done with my walk around; get the better of me. I need to do a better preflight walk around. I physically walked around the aircraft; right past the tie down and didn't see it.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A BK-177 Pilot aborted an engine start after the number two engine N1 failed to rotate and the TOT rose abnormally because the tail rotor tie down was not removed.

Narrative: I accepted a flight request. I had a nurse; RT; and a paramedic for the flight. The medical crew loaded up the isolette and bags in the aircraft while I took down our new sun shields from the windshields; front doors and sliding doors. It was after dark but the sunshades were still in the windows. I did a walk around but failed to see that the tail rotor blade was still tied down. While I was doing my walk around I was also telling the RT that I had put the case with the Nigh Vision Goggles (NVG) in her seat. I then got in the aircraft and started the check list. I started the number two engine first. As I was starting the engine; the RT asked me to help her with her NVG mount. I told her I was starting the engine but would help her in a minute. As the N1 approached 30% I noticed that the blades were not turning and I aborted the start. I realized that I must have missed the tail rotor tie down on my walk around. I got out and checked and sure enough; the tail rotor was still tied down. I then called the mechanic and canceled the flight. The N1 went to 31% and the TOT was about 650 degrees when I aborted the start. I am not trying to make excuses for what was an exceptionally poor walk around. I take full responsibility for failing to see the tie down. I let the distraction of removing the new window shades and talking with the med crew about something that could have waited until after I was done with my walk around; get the better of me. I need to do a better preflight walk around. I physically walked around the aircraft; right past the tie down and didn't see it.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.