- Date
- August 3, 2022, 12:50 local (16:50 UTC)
- Place
- Leghighton, PA
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N45CARobinson Helicopter R44
- Defining event
- Landing: Dynamic rollover
- 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
- 20220803014039A
- Case key
- 105669
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 recovery from a bounced landing on a slope, which resulted in dynamic 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 explained that the accident occurred at the completion of a local flight that departed from a private residence. While landing from a hover to a “slight slope,” the pilot said he lowered the collective “too rapidly,” the helicopter “landed roughly” and that he raised the collective control to recover the landing. “At that point, I entered a dynamic rollover to the left in which I was unable to recover.” The helicopter came to rest on its side with substantial damage to the cabin and the tailboom. The pilot reported there were no mechanical deficiencies with the helicopter that precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N45CA
- Reported as
- Robinson Helicopter R44
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 2242
- Built
- 2012
- Airframe hours
- 1,294
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-FIB5, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Edh Services LLC
- Registered owner
- Edh Services LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 13, 2022 · 26 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Equipment
- 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
- 66
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Medical
- Class 3, Waiver time limited special
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 385 total · 315 in this make and model · 95 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.03 inHg
- Observed at
- KABE, 17 nm away
- METAR
- KABE 031651Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 29/15 A3003 RMK AO2 SLP165 T02890150
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 27, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.4 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.