- Date
- September 2, 1989, 17:40 local (21:40 UTC)
- Place
- Palmyra, VA
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N27TBRotorway Exec
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 22, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890902033389A
- Case key
- 11444
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
Inadequate preflight by the pilot, and fuel exhaustion due to an inadequate supply of fuel.
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 acft took off, turned right, and then the engine lost power. The acft landed hard, causing separation of the tailboom. Examination of the acft revealed the fuel tanks were empty. The passenger stated the fuel gages read less than one-quarter full at the time of takeoff.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N27TB
- Reported as
- Rotorway Exec
- Category
- Helicopter, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 3273
- Airframe hours
- 140
- Engine
- Rotorway RW152, 152 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Thomas W. Bryan
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 23, 1987 · 49 hours before
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
- 40
- Certificate
- Private
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 166 total · 166 in this make and model · 133 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.