- Date
- January 31, 1997, 11:30 local (17:30 UTC)
- Place
- Wiggins, MS
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N8319TRobinson R22
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 15, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970131003579A
- Case key
- 3818
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
the student pilot misjudged rotor blade clearance from a utility pole, which resulted in a collision. The proximity of the pole was a related factor.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The student pilot was conducting a solo cross-country flight, and had completed two legs of the flight before landing at Wiggins. According to the operator, the student was hovering to a parking ramp to refuel, when the main rotor blades struck a utility pole. The operator said that the student pilot saw the utility pole, but misjudged the rotor blade clearance. No mechanical problems with the helicopter were reported by the student.
Factual narrative
On January 31, 1997 at 1130, central standard time, a Robinson R-22 helicopter, N8319T, collided with a utility pole while hovering to park, following a landing at the Dean Griffin Memorial Airport, in Wiggins, Mississippi. The solo cross country training flight operated under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The helicopter sustained substantial damage; the student pilot was not injured. The flight departed time from Picayune, Mississippi, at1050.
According to the operator, the student pilot was conducting a solo cross country flight, and had completed two legs of the flight prior to landing at Wiggins. Reportedly, the student pilot was hovering to the parking ramp, to refuel, when both main rotor blades struck a utility pole. The operator also said that the student pilot saw the utility pole but misjudged the rotor blade clearance. No mechanical problems with the helicopter were reported by the student pilot.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8319T
- Reported as
- Robinson R22
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 2488
- Airframe hours
- 2,403
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B2C, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Vortex Helicopters
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 29, 1997 · 4 hours before
- Departed
- GPT · Gulfport, MS
- Destination
- MS06 · MS
- Airport
- MS06 · Griffin Memorial, runway 17, 3,000 × ft, asphalt
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
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 76 total · 76 in this make and model · 19 as pilot in command · 76 in the last 90 days · 22 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GPT, 45 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N8319T · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.