- Date
- September 10, 2020, 10:00 local (14:00 UTC)
- Place
- Kenansville, FL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N57ANRotorway Exec 162F
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control in flight
- 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
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20200910017899A
- Case key
- 101986
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 control of the helicopter during 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
The pilot of the experimental amateur-built helicopter reported that during takeoff, when the left skid was coming off the ground, he felt a small jerk, so he moved the cyclic to the left and forward. When the cyclic moved it hit the passenger’s left knee. The passenger “jerked” and the cyclic moved back to the right and the helicopter “instantaneously” rolled over to the right side and struck the ground. The pilot and the passenger were not injured, and the helicopter’s main rotor and tail boom sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions of the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N57AN
- Reported as
- Rotorway Exec 162F
- Category
- Helicopter, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 6557
- Built
- 2001
- Airframe hours
- 363.1
- Engine
- Rotoway, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Sarah Business Llc
- Registered owner
- Sarah Business Llc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 7, 2020
- Departed
- Kenansville, FL
- Destination
- COI · Merritt Island, FL
- Airport
- PVT · Private Heliport
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
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
- 57
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- September 7, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 2,600 total · 450 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 70° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 79 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Observed at
- KMLB, 23 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 12, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.8 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.