- Date
- October 15, 1985, 10:43 local (17:43 UTC)
- Place
- El Monte, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N2071ZRotorway Executive
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19851015056209A
- Case key
- 24944
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 rotorcraft made a hard touchdown from a hover while on a practice flt. The plt had not been signed off for solo flt in a rotorcraft, helicopter catergory and class. The plt had practiced solo in this acft before but had stayed at very low alt (skid-light) on former occasions. This time he raised the hover to a claimed max of 2 ft off the ramp. He practiced two hours and believed that fatigue caused loss of concentration followed by 'coming down on the skid too hard.'
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2071Z
- Reported as
- Rotorway Executive
- Category
- Helicopter, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 2593
- Engine
- Rotorway RW-133, 133 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Frank Louis Lillo
- Registered owner
- Dick L. Mcewen
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Airport
- EMT · El Monte
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
- 41
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 650 total · 4 in this make and model · 550 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 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.