- Date
- July 29, 1982, 14:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Spring Green, WI
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N5698MEnstrom 280C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 29, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19820729033839A
- Case key
- 72674
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The aircraft was on a photographic flight for the purpose of taking pictures of a piece of farm equipment. The first pass was made at about 50 ft AGL, heading into the wind. A turn was then made downwind, back toward the farm equipment. At about that time, the helicopter lost rotor RPM and began to settle. The pilot reported that when he looked at the airspeed gauge, it indicated zero. He was unable to recover the RPM and the helicopter touched down in mature corn while in a nose high attitude. During the touchdown, the main rotor blades and tail rotor collided.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5698M
- Reported as
- Enstrom 280C
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1217
- Airframe hours
- 275
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360-E1BD, 205 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Operator
- Rotor Aire, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Rotor Aire, Inc.
- Departed
- MSN · Madison, WI
- Destination
- MSN · Madison, WI
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
- 29
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 1,936 total · 14 in this make and model · 1,663 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 12 statute miles
- Temperature
- 178 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.