- Date
- August 18, 2021, 09:27 local (13:27 UTC)
- Place
- Lindale, GA · residence
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N162LRRotorway Exec 162
- Defining event
- Landing: Abnormal runway contact
- 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/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20210818015019A
- Case key
- 103728
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 improper judgment of the helicopter’s height above ground during the landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing with forward airspeed and subsequent bounce and rollover.
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 reported that during landing, he misjudged the helicopter’s height above the ground, started the flare to a hover “a little too late,” and the skids contacted the ground with forward speed. The helicopter landed hard, bounced, rolled over onto its right side and sustained substantial damage to the tail boom. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N162LR
- Reported as
- Rotorway Exec 162
- Category
- Helicopter, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 6756
- Built
- 2005
- Airframe hours
- 237
- Engine
- Rotorway RI162F, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · February 26, 2021 · 26 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Equipment
- 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
- 65
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- BasicMed, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 7, 2021
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 5,500 total · 44 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.18 inHg
- Observed at
- VPC, 20 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KVPC 181335Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 24/22 A3018 RMK AO2=
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 4, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 13.9 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.