- Date
- October 17, 2024, 10:43 local (14:43 UTC)
- Place
- North East, PA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N162APHunt Exec 162F
- 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
- 20241017016389A
- Case key
- 195419
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 landing following an encounter with an unanticipated wind gust, which resulted in a dynamic rollover.
Findings · 3
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, who did not hold a rotorcraft helicopter rating, was performing a spot landing in the helicopter in relatively calm wind conditions. He stated that upon touchdown on the right skid, an unanticipated wind gust from the left pushed the helicopter forward and to the right, after which the helicopter dynamically rolled over to the right. The helicopter’s tailboom and main rotor blades were substantially damaged during the accident sequence. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N162AP
- Reported as
- Hunt Exec 162F
- Category
- Helicopter, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 6616
- Built
- 2007
- Airframe hours
- 180
- Engine
- Rotorway RI 162F, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 23, 2023 · 140 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- PN40 · Moorhead Airpark, runway 08, 2,000 × 150 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Satellite tracking device, Electronic primary flight display, 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
- 82
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Last flight review
- April 17, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,800 total · 80 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,300 ft broken
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.36 inHg
- Observed at
- KERI, 14 nm away
- METAR
- SPECI KERI 171411Z 35005KT 10SM BKN023 11/05 A3036 RMK AO2 T01110050
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 21, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 11.7 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.