- Date
- July 21, 2015, 14:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Atlanta, TX
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N58397Hughes 269C
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 12, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20150721013249A
- Case key
- 91616
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-helicopter rated pilot's improper landing flare, which resulted in impact with terrain.
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/owner, who is not rated in helicopters, reported that he departed the airport and flew the helicopter for 4 miles before landing in a parking lot in the city. During the landing flare the tail rotor blades impacted the ground and the helicopter sustained substantial damage to the tail rotor gear box and tail boom. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot/owner, who is not rated in helicopters, reported that he departed the airport and flew the helicopter for 4 miles before landing in a parking lot in the city. During the landing flare the tail rotor blades impacted the ground and the helicopter sustained substantial damage to the tail rotor gear box and tail boom. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N58397
- Reported as
- Hughes 269C
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1090833
- Built
- 1979
- Airframe hours
- 5,098
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360-DIA, 195 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 18, 2015
- Departed
- ATA · Atlanta, TX
- Destination
- ATA · Atlanta, TX
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
- 60
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 1, 2014
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,166 total · 1,048 as pilot in command · 24 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 17 knots, gusting 21
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,200 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.89 inHg
- Observed at
- KTXK, 22 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 7, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.7 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.
Other investigations on N58397 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.