Innovator Mosquitto accident near North Manchester, IN
On February 23, 2020, an Innovator Mosquitto (helicopter) was involved in an accident near North Manchester, IN. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- February 23, 2020
- Place
- North Manchester, IN
- Aircraft
- Innovator Mosquitto · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 40.998°N, 85.826°W
- NTSB ID
- 20200224X02150
Official records · CEN20FA098
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn February 23, 2020, about 1808 eastern standard time, an experimental, amateur-built XE285 helicopter, N840GS, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near North Manchester, Indiana. The pilot was fatally injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. One witness reported that he saw the helicopter flying from a distance about 30 minutes before the accident. He did not know if the helicopter was over the airstrip or a nearby field but that the helicopter appeared to be hovering. Family members of the pilot reported that the pilot had purchased the helicopter about 3 years before the accident. The pilot had received some flight instruction in a helicopter but had limited his flights in the accident helicopter to practicing hovering, taxiing, and landings at their airstrip. They stated that the pilot had previously experienced two hard landings in the accident helicopter. They did not witness the accident flight but believed that the pilot was performing those same maneuvers at the time of the accident. The pilot had previously told the family members that he had difficulty overcoming his habits from flying airplanes and would sometimes push the cyclic forward when he had trouble flying the helicopter. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONThe pilot held a private-pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single-engine land. According to his logbook, he had accumulated about 22 total hours of helicopter experience in the 3 years before the accident, 12.6 hours of which were instructional fligh
Probable cause
The pilot’s loss of control for reasons that could not be determined based on the available information.
More accidents in IN
- Pilatus PC-12, May 25, 2011
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Browse: Indiana
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
