- Date
- November 15, 2007, 13:20 local (20:20 UTC)
- Place
- Meadview, AZ
- Injuries
- 7 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N810MHEurocopter France EC 130 B4
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 31, 2008
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20071115828129A
- Case key
- 67091
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 downward flexing of the standing helicopter's main rotor blades and subsequent impact with its tail boom as a result of another helicopter's rotor blade's vortices.
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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 pilot reported that he had just landed and was in the process of shutting the engine down when another company helicopter landed at his 2 o'clock position about 40 to 50 feet away. The vortices created by the second helicopter's main rotor blades caused the main rotor blades of the standing helicopter to flex downward before impacting its tailboom, which resulted in substantial damage to the standing helicopter.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that he had just landed and was in the process of shutting the engine down when another company helicopter landed at his 2 o'clock position about 40 to 50 feet away. The vortices created by the second helicopter's main rotor blades caused the main rotor blades of the standing helicopter to flex downward before impacting its tailboom, which resulted in substantial damage to the standing helicopter.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N810MH
- Reported as
- Eurocopter France EC 130 B4
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 3949
- Engine
- Turbomeca Arriel 2B1, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Maverick Helicopters, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Maverick Helicopters, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- LAS · Las Vegas, NV
- Destination
- Meadview, AZ
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- NONE · Meadview Airstrip
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
- 26
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 2,856 total · 1,231 in this make and model · 217 in the last 90 days · 48 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 50 °F, dew point 10 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.25 inHg
- Observed at
- LAS, 47 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.