Cirrus SR22 N987AA

Summary

On 9 February 2022 at about 22:48 local time, a Cirrus SR22 registered N987AA was involved in an accident near Pinehurst, North Carolina, United States. 2 people were 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

9 February 2022 at 22:48

Classification

Accident

Location

Pinehurst, North Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Moore County (SOP)

Coordinates

35.2374, -79.3890

Aircraft

Cirrus SR22

Registration

N987AA

Category

Airplane

Year built

2003

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Erwin → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

ERA22LA125

Nobody was injured.

The in-flight encounter while on final approach with high-speed trailing vortices from a military helicopter, resulting in abnormal runway contact. Contributing to the accident was the Cirrus pilot’s incorrect selection of the common traffic advisory frequency on the aircraft’s radio.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The Cirrus pilot reported making a radio call on what he thought was the published common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) when the flight was 10 miles away, then continued to the airport for a straight-in approach to runway 23 making radio calls. During the same time frame, a flightcrew member of an Army helicopter announced on the CTAF when their flight was on 10, 5, and 2 nautical mile final for runway 5. The Cirrus pilot indicated that he did not hear any communication on the CTAF and he was unable to activate the runway lights using the CTAF. When the Cirrus flight was between 2 and 3 miles from the airport, he saw a helicopter at the opposite end of the runway moving to the east, adding that the sun was in his eyes which was “definitely a factor.” He did not hear the helicopter on the selected CTAF frequency and made a radio call on the CTAF that he was on short final approach. A flightcrew member of the military helicopter reported they did not hear any advisory call from the airplane and after they spotted it, the IP took the controls and turned to the right (east) to avoid a collision. The Cirrus pilot indicated that after flying over the airport property fence, he looked to his left and noted a military helicopter several hundred feet above his altitude. He continued his descent to runway 23 and when the flight was about 15 to 20 ft AGL the flight encountered, “very strong turbulence” which caused the left wing to drop. He recovered from that and then when the flight was between 5 and 10 ft AGL encountered another round of “very strong turbulence” which made the right wing contact the runway resulting in substantial damage to the wing. The airplane went to the right and skidded into the grass. The military helicopter continued to the east and reported that since they could not affect the situation continued with the training. A short audio recording of the CTAF recorded a flightcrew member of the military helicopter announcing they were on a 2 mile final for runway 5, followed by an announcement that they were departing to the east off of runway centerline. Postaccident examination of the radios of the Cirrus airplane revealed the pilot had selected the #2 radio to transmit, which was set to 122.700 MHz. That frequency was the departure airport CTAF. The accident airport published CTAF was 123.05MHz.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.