- Date
- October 13, 2025, 12:29 local (17:29 UTC)
- Place
- Valley View, TX
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N162ADRotorway AG162
- Defining event
- Enroute: Unknown or undetermined
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Investigation ongoing
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration, North Texas FSDO
- FAA report
- 20251013014879A
- Case key
- 201838
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Preliminary report
What NTSB knew early in the investigation. It may change in the final report.
On October 13, 2025, at 1229 central daylight time, a Rotorway AG162 helicopter, N162AD, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Valley View, Texas. The pilot and passenger were uninjured. The helicopter was operated under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations as a Part 91 personal flight. The pilot stated that he was en route to Hardy Field Airport, Valley View, Texas, when there was a decrease in main rotor speed. The pilot stated that he was unable to increase rotor speed and maintain altitude with control and engine inputs. He then performed a forced landing to a field, during which the tailboom separated from the airframe and resulted in substantial damage. The helicopter was retained for examination.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N162AD
- Reported as
- Rotorway AG162
- Category
- Helicopter, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 001
- Built
- 2012
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
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.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 10 knots, gusting 16
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DTO, 15 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.