- Date
- May 28, 1983, 14:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Opelousas, LA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N56932Enstrom 280C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830528021489A
- Case key
- 20727
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The helicopter was observed to lift off to a hover and began an erratic hover. The acft pitched up and spun throwing theplt out and fatally injuring him. Witnesses said they did not know the plt was going to fly the helicopter. The opinion was that it was to be an engine run-up on the ground. The pilot did not have his seat belt fastened. After he was thrownout the acft flew spinning up and down until it impacted in a flat spinning motion and spun on the ground until rotation stopped after a few minutes. A witness entered the cockpit and shut down the engine. The helicopter came to rest about 87 ft from the initial lift-off point. The plt had about 8 hours solo in helicopters and had just been involved in an accident similar to the one about 1 week earlier. In that accident he was not injured. This helicopter was being checked by the plt with the idea of purchase.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N56932
- Reported as
- Enstrom 280C
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1196
- Airframe hours
- 613
- Engine
- Lycoming HI0-360-E1BD, 205 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Curtis Parkis Dotson
- Registered owner
- Dr. A.L. Beacham
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 23, 1983 · 1 hours before
- Airport
- OPL · St. Laundry Airport
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
- 59
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 6,044 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.