Md Helicopters Inc 369E accident near Thomas, WV
On October 30, 2010, a Md Helicopters Inc 369E (helicopter) was involved in an accident near Thomas, WV. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- October 30, 2010
- Place
- Thomas, WV
- Aircraft
- Md Helicopters Inc 369E · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 serious, 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 39.201°N, 79.538°W
- NTSB ID
- 20101030X30541
Official records · ERA11FA042
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On October 30, 2010, about 1030 eastern daylight time, an MD Helicopters, Inc. 369E, N765WH, operated by Winco, Inc., was substantially damaged when it collided with power transmission wires and terrain while performing external-load/line-maintenance operations near Thomas, West Virginia. The certificated commercial pilot was seriously injured. Of the three linemen on board, two suffered minor injuries while one was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local external load flight, which was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 133. The pilot and both surviving linemen recounted a similar series of events during separate post-accident interviews. On the day of the accident, the helicopter was tasked with transporting four linemen between several power transmission towers so that they could transfer fiber optic grounding lines from pulleys used during their installation, to their final fixed location on the tower. The crew began their work at 0820 that morning by transporting two of the linemen to transmission tower number 242, and had progressed sequentially, my moving groups of two linemen at a time, to the final tower for this portion of the operation, number 248. On each of the seven towers worked on that day, the same procedure was used to drop off the lineman to perform the work. The helicopter hovered near the transmission tower's peak, while the linemen disembarked the helicopter, then after the helicopter ascended vertically approximately 40 feet, the lineme
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to clear the helicopter and its external load from surrounding structures and his failure to execute a timely release of the external load, which resulted in an inadvertent entanglement and collision with wires and terrain. Contributing to the lineman's fatal injury was his position outside of the helicopter during the accident.
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Browse: West Virginia · Md aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
