- Date
- September 18, 1999, 13:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Tucumcari, NM
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N8497YRobinson R22A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
- Status
- Completed · report December 4, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990918030709A
- Case key
- 47415
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 inadequate visual lookout. A factor was a reduced visual detection due to background vegetation and terrain.
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
Shortly after takeoff, the helicopter collided with powerlines. The pilot said he did not see the powerlines because they blended in with the brush and background terrain.
Factual narrative
On September 18, 1999, approximately 1330 mountain daylight time, a Robinson R22A, N8497Y, registered to and operated by Hunts Hashknife Helicopters, Inc., was substantially damaged when it collided with powerlines shortly after taking off from a field 20 miles northwest of Tucumcari, New Mexico. The commercial pilot, the sole occupant aboard, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the business flight being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91.
According to the pilot's accident report, he had been herding cattle on the Clabber Hill Ranch for about four hours when he took a lunch break. When he returned, he preflighted the helicopter, then took off into the wind in a northerly direction. After traveling 100 to 150 yards at an altitude of 30 feet and at an airspeed of 30 knots, the helicopter collided with powerlines. The pilot said he did not see the powerlines because they blended in with the brush and background terrain. Asked how this accident could have been prevented, the pilot wrote: "A better recon[naissance] of area before T/O [takeoff]."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8497Y
- Reported as
- Robinson R22A
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 0408
- Airframe hours
- 5,115
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B2C, 124 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- Unknown
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Hunts Hashknife Helicopters
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 14, 1999 · 15 hours before
- Departed
- NONE
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
- 52
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 12,041 total · 9,549 in this make and model · 11,586 as pilot in command · 19 in the last 90 days · 18 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.