- Date
- January 21, 2012, 13:30 local (17:30 UTC)
- Place
- Beluga, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N4510TRobinson Helicopter R44 II
- Defining event
- Standing-engine(s) operating: Aircraft loading event
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 15, 2012
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA Anchorage FSDO
- FAA report
- 20120121001699A
- Case key
- 82734
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Ground personnel's movement of cargo in windy conditions, which allowed a previously secured cargo sack to blow into the main rotor blades.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot landed the helicopter at an off-airport site in windy conditions. While he was performing the engine cool-down portion of the checklist, a worker at the site picked up a storage container that was weighing down an empty cargo sack. When the weight was removed, the sack was picked up by the wind, and it contacted the helicopter's main rotor system, resulting in substantial damage to the main rotor blades.
Factual narrative
The pilot landed the helicopter at an off-airport site in windy conditions. While he was performing the engine cool-down portion of the checklist, a worker at the site picked up a storage container that was weighing down an empty cargo sack. When the weight was removed, the sack was picked up by the wind, and it contacted the helicopter's main rotor system, resulting in substantial damage to the main rotor blades.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4510T
- Reported as
- Robinson Helicopter R44 II
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 13085
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-AE1A5, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- External load · Part 133
- Operator
- Ace Flyers Inc DBA, doing business as Jayhawk Air
- Registered owner
- Ace Flyers Inc DBA
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Beluga, AK
- Destination
- Beluga, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 27
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 6, 2011
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 2,434 total · 350 in this make and model · 225 in the last 90 days · 109 in the last 30 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 30 knots, gusting 40
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Temperature
- 14 °F
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 6, 2012, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 694 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.