- Date
- November 7, 2020, 14:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Rhame, ND
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2081GSchweizer 269C
- Defining event
- Landing: Dynamic rollover
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20201107014879A
- Case key
- 102392
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 landed the helicopter on unsuitable terrain, which resulted in a rollover.
Findings · 2
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 was conducting an off-airport landing in a helicopter. After landing, the pilot lowered the collective to transfer the weight to the skids, the left skid slid into a deep, overgrown rut, and the helicopter to rolled onto its left side. The rotor blades impacted the ground and sustained substantial damage. Also, the left side of the fuselage was crushed inward, and the tail rotor drive shaft fractured. In the recommendation section of the NTSB Accident/Incident Reporting Form 6120.1, the pilot stated that the accident may have been prevented if he had looked closer at the landing site.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2081G
- Reported as
- Schweizer 269C
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- S1845
- Built
- 2003
- Airframe hours
- 5,500
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360-DIA, 190 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Other work use · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 1, 2020 · 20 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
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
- 74
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- September 11, 2019
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 3,867 total · 680 in this make and model · 3,345 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 16 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.47 inHg
- Observed at
- KBWW, 25 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 12, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.9 MB 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.