- Date
- November 15, 2023, 07:45 local (15:45 UTC)
- Place
- Estacada, OR
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N103WCBell OH-58A
- Defining event
- Maneuvering-hover: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20231115015289A
- Case key
- 193390
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 failure to maintain helicopter control during an external load operation, which resulted in the helicopter’s main rotor blades impacting the tail boom.
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 he was relocating bundles of trees from the harvest field onto a truck bed. Approximately 30 minutes into the operation, the load hook did not immediately release when he was setting a bundle down. The pilot pressed the release button multiple times, as he had done in similar situations in the past. The helicopter’s momentum, as it moved back towards the field, caused the bundle to slide a few feet. One of the main rotor blades then struck the tail boom, and the other blade flapped down, cutting off the rear section of the tail boom, vertical stabilizer, and tail rotor. The helicopter spun several times before landing, resting flat on the skids. The landing impact was forceful enough to break the mast and dislodge the main transmission. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the main rotor, tail boom, vertical stabilizer, tail rotor, and transmission. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N103WC
- Reported as
- Bell OH-58A
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 69-16083
- Built
- 1969
- Airframe hours
- 9,087
- Engine
- Rolls Royce T63-A-720, 400 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- External load · Part 133
- Operator
- Edgefield Aviation LLC
- Registered owner
- Edgefield Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 12, 2023 · 19 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Equipment
- ADS-B
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 47
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 1, 2023
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,858 total · 591 in this make and model · 1,774 as pilot in command · 116 in the last 90 days · 91 in the last 30 days · 9 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- 20° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 2.5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 700 ft broken
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- KUAO, 18 nm away
- METAR
- KUAO 151553Z 02004KT 2 1/2SM BR BKN007 BKN035 OVC050 08/07 A2995 RMK AO2 RAB13E39 SLP142 P0001 T00780067
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 6, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.2 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.