- Date
- July 24, 2020, 18:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Whitehall, MD
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N350DMRobinson R44
- Defining event
- Landing: Collision during takeoff/land
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- FAA report
- 20200724009999A
- Case key
- 101672
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 known obstacle while landing from a hover.
Findings · 3
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 of the aerial application helicopter had sprayed hundreds of acres earlier in the day and was positioning the helicopter at another farm site for spraying the following day. He said he selected a landing site next to a grain trailer to remain clear of on-going farm operations. The pilot stated he began his approach at the end of a 7-hour duty day, hovered adjacent to the trailer, and focused his attention on the position of the spray booms as he descended over the landing spot. As he lowered the collective control to complete the landing, the main rotor blades struck the top and side of the grain trailer which resulted in substantial damage to the helicopter’s main rotor blades and tailboom. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical deficiencies with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation. In the NTSB Form 6120.1 Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report the pilot offered several safety recommendations to prevent similar accidents from happening in the future. Among them, he suggested a "higher level" of aeronautical decision making, improved fatigue awareness, better obstacle awareness, and maintenance of landing area scan and avoidance of "fixation" on any one item or obstacle.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N350DM
- Reported as
- Robinson R44 (Undesignat)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 0366
- Built
- 1997
- Airframe hours
- 11
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-F1B5, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 9, 2020 · 3,869 hours before
- Departed
- New Freedom, PA
- Destination
- Whitehall, MD
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, 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
- 59
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 2,298 total · 1,662 in this make and model · 2,018 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Observed at
- KDMW, 19 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 12, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.6 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.