- Date
- September 3, 2018, 16:20 local (20:20 UTC)
- Place
- Delaware, OH
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N139JSSchweizer 269C
- Defining event
- Landing: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 18, 2019
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- Case key
- 98257
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 improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.
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 reported that, while practicing "quick stops and steep approaches," he flared the helicopter too hard and too low, and the tail skid struck the runway, which resulted in a hard landing. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that, while practicing "quick stops and steep approaches", he flared the helicopter too hard and too low and the tail skid struck the runway, resulting in a hard landing. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N139JS
- Reported as
- Schweizer 269C (Undesignat)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- S1704
- Built
- 1995
- Airframe hours
- 4,921.3
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360-D1A, 190 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Blade Runners Chopper Llc
- Registered owner
- Blade Runners Chopper Llc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 30, 2018
- Departed
- DLZ · Delaware, OH
- Destination
- DLZ · Delaware, OH
- Airport
- DLZ · Delaware Muni - Jim Moore Fiel, runway 28, 5,800 × 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
- 54
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport, Commercial, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 8, 2018
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 13,000 total · 92.6 in this make and model · 10,000 as pilot in command · 150 in the last 90 days · 50 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.21 inHg
- Observed at
- KDLZ, 1 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 29, 2018, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 9.4 MB in all.