Enstrom F28 N65RS

Summary

On 11 December 2019 at about 23:00 local time, a Enstrom F28 registered N65RS, operated by Dennis Goggin, was involved in an accident near Riverton, Utah, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

11 December 2019 at 23:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Riverton, Utah, United States

Coordinates

40.4831, -111.9406

Aircraft

Enstrom F28

Registration

N65RS

Category

Helicopter

Year built

1990

Engines

1

Operator

Dennis Goggin

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR20TA039

1 person had minor injuries.

The noncertificated pilot’s decision to operate a deregistered helicopter, which resulted in a component failure and subsequent loss of control and hard landing. Contributing to the accident was the lack of recent maintenance on the helicopter.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The noncertificated pilot, who hadn’t flown “in years,” flew the helicopter to relocate it to another part of his property. The helicopter, which was not registered, and did not have an airworthiness certificate, had been stored outside and had not been maintained during the past 4 years. During the approach to land, the left-side tail rotor control cable was struck by the tail rotor, likely due to the prolonged lack of maintenance, which resulted in a loss of control. The pilot subsequently lowered the collective to land, and the main rotor blades struck a tree in the descent, and the helicopter landed hard.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.