20100911051662I

Incident · Minor damage

FAA incident report · Bell AH-1F · Winston Salem, NC · September 11, 2010

Date
September 11, 2010 · 15:30 local
Place
Winston Salem, NC
Phase of flight
Other, Specify
Operating rules
General operating rules (Part 91)
Operator
N/A
Collision
Midair collision
Damage
Minor damage
Aircraft
N998HF
Reported as
Bell AH-1F
Reported engine
Amateur-built UNKNOWN ENG
People aboard
4
Fatal injuries
0
Other injuries
0
Pilot’s certificate
Commercial pilot
Pilot’s flight hours
15,280 total6,200 in this make and model1 in the last 90 days

From the FAA’s Accident/Incident Data System (AIDS), through its Aviation Safety Information Portal, as reported. The NTSB investigates accidents separately, and its record of an accident is the fuller one. The aircraft is matched to the registry by N-number and event date, checked against the reported make and model; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.

What happened

The FAA’s narrative, in sentence case. The FAA writes it in capitals and removes private details.

At an undetermined time and phase of flight, two helicopters, in a formation flight of four cobras, touched rotor blade tips in flight while conducting an air show exhibition. The damage on the rotor tips of the two helicopters involved caused vibrations that prompted the pilots to land and end the exhibition.

As the FAA filed it

AT AN UNDETERMINED TIME AND PHASE OF FLIGHT, TWO HELICOPTERS, IN A FORMATION FLIGHT OF FOUR COBRAS, TOUCHED ROTOR BLADE TIPS IN FLIGHT WHILE CONDUCTING AN AIR SHOW EXHIBITION. THE DAMAGE ON THE ROTOR TIPS OF THE TWO HELICOPTERS INVOLVED CAUSED VIBRATIONS THAT PROMPTED THE PILOTS TO LAND AND END THE EXHIBITION.

Other aircraft in the event · 1

Each aircraft in a collision has its own report.