- Date
- March 25, 2021, 12:30 local (17:30 UTC)
- Place
- Lake City, KS
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N41AJHughes 369D
- Defining event
- Maneuvering-low-alt flying: Low altitude operation/event
- 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
- FAA report
- 20210325006839A
- Case key
- 102806
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 failure to maintain clearance from power lines during power line maintenance.
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 reported that while hovering near power lines, for the purpose of installing bird diverters, a gust of wind pushed the helicopter “into the OPGW wire.” The pilot repositioned the helicopter away from the wire and then saw it fly up and into the rotor system. He immediately started a controlled landing and safely landed the helicopter. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to all five rotor blades. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical anomalies with the helicopter before the wire strike that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that the helicopter operator is adding local weather stations to augment reported weather when the flight crews are working in remote areas. Additionally, for skid operations, the operator has restricted the steady state wind and gust spreads by zone for the helicopter.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N41AJ
- Reported as
- Hughes 369D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 480299D
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 2,579
- Engine
- Rolls Royce 250-C20, 400 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- External load · Part 133
- Operator
- English Air Service LLC
- Registered owner
- English Air Service LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · February 26, 2021
- Departed
- PTT · Pratt, KS
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- N/A
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 66
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 13, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 22,704 total · 880 in this make and model · 22,350 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 345° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 44 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 27.78 inHg
- Observed at
- PTT, 25 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 27, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.3 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.