- Date
- September 25, 2021, 06:55 local (11:55 UTC)
- Place
- Patterson, LA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N662RLBell 407
- Defining event
- Taxi-into takeoff position: Ground collision
- 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
- 20210925013101A
- Case key
- 103974
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 adequate clearance from a parked helicopter while hovering to reposition for takeoff.
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
While hovering from the helicopter pad to reposition for takeoff, the pilot backed up the helicopter. During a pedal turn, the tail rotor contacted another helicopter’s main rotor blades, which was parked and located behind on another pad. The pilot reported she felt a strong jolt to the left, and the helicopter began to spin. The pilot lowered the collective, reduced throttle, and the helicopter came to rest upright adjacent to the helicopter pad. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the tail boom. The operator reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N662RL
- Reported as
- Bell 407
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 53203
- Built
- 1997
- Airframe hours
- 25,222
- Engine
- Rolls Royce 250-C30, 650 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 135
- Operator
- Rotorcraft Leasing Company, LLC, doing business as Rlc, LLC
- Registered owner
- Rotorcraft Leasing Company, LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · September 24, 2021
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- PTN · Harry P Williams Meml
- Equipment
- Satellite tracking device
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
- 25
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 1, 2021
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,479 total · 255 in this make and model · 1,479 as pilot in command · 142 in the last 90 days · 36 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 0.25 statute miles
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.11 inHg
- Observed at
- KPTN, 1 nm away
- METAR
- KPTN 251201Z AUTO 00000KT 1 1/4SM BR FEW002 14/14 A3011 RMK AO2 VIS 1/4V5 $
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 14, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.8 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.