- Date
- May 10, 2023, 13:40 local (17:40 UTC)
- Place
- Akron, OH · In pilot's backyard
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- UNREGRotorway Exec
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Loss of control on ground
- 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
- Case key
- 174542
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 non-certificated pilot’s failure to maintain control of the unregistered helicopter during landing.
Findings · 1
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/owner was operating the unregistered experimental helicopter in his back yard, when he attempted to lift the skids off the ground “a few inches.” When the pilot set the helicopter back down on the ground, it rolled over onto its left side resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage. The main rotor system, including the controls for the cyclic were also damaged from impact. Though the pilot held a private pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single-engine land, he was not certificated to act as a pilot in helicopters.
Aircraft
- Registration
- UNREG
- Reported as
- Rotorway Exec (90)
- Category
- Helicopter, amateur-built
- Serial number
- None
- Built
- 2023
- Engine
- Rotorway International 152, 152 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- VIto Scafido
- Airworthiness certificate
- Unknown
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- None
- Equipment
- None
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 72
- Injuries
- Minor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 718 total · 654 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.22 inHg
- Observed at
- KCAK, 7 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KCAK 101651Z VRB03KT 10SM SCT250 19/03 A3022
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 31, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.0 MB in all.