- Date
- August 28, 2023, 13:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hopkinsville, KY
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N8679VBellanca 7ECA
- Defining event
- Initial climb: Aircraft wake turb encounter
- 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
- 20230828014159A
- Case key
- 192964
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 inadvertent encounter with helicopter wake turbulence during initial climb, which resulted in a loss of airplane control.
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 stated that, before departing in his tailwheel-equipped airplane, a U.S. Army CH-47 heavy-lift helicopter departed and proceeded upwind. When the helicopter was established on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern, the pilot initiated his takeoff. At 40 ft above ground level in the initial climb, the airplane “hit the helicopter’s rotor wash” which rolled the airplane “about 135 degrees to its right.” The pilot was able to level the wings before the airplane touched down in low brush to the right of the runway and came to rest near the airport boundary fence. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the main landing gear support structure and the pilot deplaned uninjured. The pilot reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8679V
- Reported as
- Bellanca 7ECA
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1093-75
- Built
- 1975
- Airframe hours
- 3,506
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-C1, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Presley Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Aerobatic; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 24, 2022 · 42 hours before
- Destination
- UCY · Union City, TN
- Airport
- HVC · Hopkinsville-Christian County, runway 08, 5,505 × 100 ft, asphalt
- 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
- 39
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Powered-lift
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 2,812 total · 36 in this make and model · 1,823 as pilot in command · 117 in the last 90 days · 45 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 8 knots, gusting 14
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.94 inHg
- Observed at
- KHVC
- METAR
- METAR KHVC 281615Z AUTO 01008G14KT 10SM FEW026 26/21 A2994 RMK AO2=
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 21, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.0 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.
Other investigations on N8679V · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.