- Date
- March 29, 2013, 14:45 local (18:45 UTC)
- Place
- Cleveland, OH
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2065PSchweizer 269C-1
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 24, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20130329004969A
- Case key
- 86590
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 pilot’s improper flare with a high descent rate, which resulted in a hard landing.
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
After a local flight, the helicopter landed hard, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. The postaccident examination of the helicopter did not reveal any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. It is likely that the pilot did not maintain awareness of the helicopter's descent rate and airspeed during the landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.
Factual narrative
On March 29, 2013, about 1445 eastern daylight time, a Schweizer 269C-1 helicopter, N2065P, experienced a hard landing at the Burke Lakefront Airport (KBKL), Cleveland, Ohio. The private pilot was not injured and the helicopter was substantially damaged. The helicopter was registered to and operated by JW Helicopter LLC under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. The local flight departed KBKL at an unknown time. According to information collected by the responding Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, the pilot did not compensate for the helicopter's descent rate during the flare and the helicopter landed hard. Substantial damage was sustained to the fuselage. The pilot reportedly had accumulated an estimated 80 hours of total time. The pilot had not submitted a completed NTSB Form 6120 prior to the completion of the report.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2065P
- Reported as
- Schweizer 269C-1
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 0140
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360-G1A, 190 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Jw Helicopter LLC
- Registered owner
- Jw Helicopter LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- KBKL · Cleveland, OH
- Destination
- KBKL · Cleveland, OH
- Airport
- KBKL · Burke Lakefront
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
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 80 total · 80 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 39 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.23 inHg
- Observed at
- KBKL
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 5, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 52 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.