- Date
- October 9, 2024, 16:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Vale, OR
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N646HEnstrom Helicopter 280C
- Defining event
- Maneuvering-hover: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20241009013799A
- Case key
- 195294
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 engine and rotor rpm during takeoff, that resulted in a hard landing.
Findings · 4
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 of the helicopter reported that, after completing an aerial application, he returned to the mix vehicle for an additional load. While reloading the helicopter, he noticed the wind direction was changing and “blowing harder” and may have shifted to a quartering tailwind. During takeoff from the mix vehicle, the engine and main rotor blade rpm started to decay. He aborted the takeoff and made a run on landing to an open field near the mix vehicle. During the landing the main rotor blades tilted aft and severed the tailboom. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the tailboom. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N646H
- Reported as
- Enstrom Helicopter 280C
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1099
- Built
- 1977
- Airframe hours
- 8,764
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360-EIAD, 205 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 3, 2024 · 90 hours before
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
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 11, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 18,318 total · 8,000 in this make and model · 18,218 as pilot in command · 200 in the last 90 days · 100 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.98 inHg
- Observed at
- KEUL, 48 nm away
- METAR
- KEUL 092156Z AUTO VRB03KT 10SM CLR 26/02 A2998 RMK AO2 SLP138 T02610017
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 8, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.0 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.