- Date
- October 11, 2005, 21:45 local (Oct 12, 2005, 01:45 UTC)
- Place
- New York City, NY
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N76UTSikorsky S-76B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report May 30, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20051011033649A
- Case key
- 62660
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 flying's failure to maintain adequate aft hover clearance from a fence, and the pilot in command's delayed remedial action. A factor was the dark night lighting conditions.
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
After night refueling at a riverside heliport, the helicopter was being repositioned to another spot to await passengers. The pilot in command was in the left seat, and the pilot flying was in the right seat. The pilot flying lifted the helicopter into a hover, facing west, toward the river. The pilot in command cleared the area left and right, and the pilot flying moved the helicopter slowly to the right. As the helicopter passed a helipad that jutted into the river, the pilot in command had difficulty judging "how far forward or back we were" since there were "no lateral position lines painted on the helipad deck to judge...position." As a sea wall came into view, he realized that the helicopter was drifting backwards, and stated "don't come back any further." Immediately afterwards, he felt a vibration, then took over the controls and landed the helicopter. A postflight inspection revealed that the tail rotor had impacted a fence. The pilot flying reported environmental conditions as "dark, drizzling rain, northerly winds 8-10 knots, [and an] unusually high water level of the...river."
Factual narrative
According to the pilot in command, after night refueling at a riverside heliport, the helicopter was being repositioned to another spot to await passengers. The pilot in command was in the left seat, and the pilot flying was in the right seat. The pilot flying lifted the helicopter into a hover, facing west, toward the river. The pilot in command cleared the area left and right, and the pilot flying moved the helicopter slowly to the right. As the helicopter passed a helipad that jutted into the river, the pilot in command had difficulty judging "how far forward or back we were" since there were "no lateral position lines painted on the helipad deck to judge...position." As a sea wall came into view, he realized that the helicopter was drifting backwards, and stated "don't come back any further." Immediately afterwards, he felt a vibration, then took over the controls and landed the helicopter. A postflight inspection revealed that the tail rotor had impacted a fence. The pilot flying reported environmental conditions as "dark, drizzling rain, northerly winds 8-10 knots, [and an] unusually high water level of the...river."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N76UT
- Reported as
- Sikorsky S-76B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 760443
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Registered owner
- United Technologies
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Departed
- JRA · New York City, NY
- Flight plan
- Unknown
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 59
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Flight hours
- 12,850 total · 2,320 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Observed at
- lga
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.