Robinson R44 N561CH

Summary

On 4 July 2012 at about 07:40 local time, a Robinson R44 registered N561CH, operated by Capital Helicopters LLC, was involved in an accident near Tallahassee, Florida, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

4 July 2012 at 07:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Tallahassee, Florida, United States

Coordinates

30.5581, -84.2289

Aircraft

Robinson R44

Registration

N561CH

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Capital Helicopters LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tallahassee → Tallahassee

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA12LA429

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to maintain awareness of the helicopter’s altitude while attempting to troubleshoot the clutch actuator warning light, which resulted in an inadvertent descent and impact with water. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's possible fatigue.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was operating the helicopter in night visual meteorological conditions in the early morning hours, after having driven about 6 hours and then flown about 3.5 hours immediately before the accident flight. He stated that he was in cruise flight about 600-800 feet above ground level and had been flying less than 10 minutes when, while turning over a lake, the pilot saw the clutch actuator light illuminate. The pilot reached for the circuit breaker box under the passenger seat to pull the clutch circuit breaker, and then felt "light in the seat." He stated that the helicopter was rapidly descending, and he pulled up on the collective to arrest the descent. After pulling on the collective, he received a low rotor rpm horn and then observed the surface of the lake reflecting the moonlight about 50 feet below the helicopter, as it continued to descend. The pilot pulled on the collective to soften the impact, and the helicopter came to rest in the lake. The pilot then egressed and swam to shore. Postaccident examination revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Operational testing of the clutch actuator revealed no anomalies. The reason for the illumination of the clutch actuator light could not be determined. It is likely that, while reaching down in an attempt to pull the clutch circuit breaker, with a lack of outside visual references due to the night conditions and the helicopter’s location over a lake, the pilot made an inadvertent cyclic input that resulted in the helicopter’s nose-down attitude and subsequent descent. The pilot's lengthy time awake and the time of the accident suggest that he may have been fatigued at the time of the event.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.