Robinson Helicopter R44 accident near Wingate, NC
On May 2, 2021, a Robinson Helicopter R44 (helicopter) was involved in an accident near Wingate, NC. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- May 2, 2021
- Place
- Wingate, NC
- Aircraft
- Robinson Helicopter R44 · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 34.882°N, 80.436°W
- NTSB ID
- 20210502103009
Official records · ERA21FA200
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn May 2, 2021, at 1318 eastern daylight time, a Robinson R-44 helicopter, N4528T, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Wingate, North Carolina. The pilot was fatally injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137 aerial application flight. The commercial pilot was spraying fungicide on a wheat field when the accident occurred. According to several witnesses, this was the first time they had observed the northwest portion of the field, which contained multiple power lines, being sprayed via aerial application. The helicopter had been applying fungicide all morning, operating about 15 ft above the 3-ft-tall wheat during the spraying operation. The pilot’s wife reported that, after landing, having lunch and loading more fungicide, the pilot departed to begin spraying where he left off. Images of the flight track recovered from an onboard GPS device showed that the helicopter completed its first pass on a northerly heading. The helicopter then turned and flew over the field on a southerly heading, and the track ended in the vicinity of where the main wreckage came to rest. Witnesses in a nearby home reported that they heard a loud noise and simultaneously lost electricity to their home. They looked out their window and saw the helicopter as it descended in a nose-down attitude before it impacted the field in the vicinity of the power lines. One of the witnesses stated that it appeared as though the helicopter became entangled in the wires before it descended nose-first into the ground. The
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from a power line during a low-level aerial application flight, resulting in tail rotor impact with the power line, a loss of control, and subsequent impact with the ground.
More accidents in NC
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Browse: North Carolina · Robinson 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.
